Kentish Football 
A top-eight finish will be deemed as a successful season, says Deres boss Micky Collins
Sunday 02nd January 2011
ERITH & BELVEDERE boss Micky Collins hopes the New Year will see a change of fortunes for the under-performing Kent League club, writes Stephen McCartney.
The year 2010 was a miserable one for the club, with a bottom five finish in the Kent League last season, and at present the club have only Sporting Bengal below them in the table, albeit the Deres have collected just three wins and a draw from only nine league games and must cram in another 21 by the end of April.
“Last season, before I came in, there was a lot of unrest, so hopefully we put that right, all between the first team, the reserves and the under 18’s and there’s great solidarity in the club now,” Collins said today.
“There’s kids coming through and playing - we’ve proved that with Robbie Cochrane coming in and scoring against Hythe.
“The club’s in a great position, but unfortunately we’ve been stop-start and we’re trying to consolidate a squad, which hopefully we’re not far from doing.
“With games in hand hopefully we’ll push up in the table. As I said at the start of the season a top-eight finish and maybe a good run in the Cup - which we’ve had good runs in the Cup and the Vase - hopefully that will be deemed a successful season.
“We look forward in the summer being in a much better position than we were last summer.
“We’re second-from-bottom, we’re aware of that, but when you’ve only played nine games it’s a joke and obviously we need to get some games in and win some points.
“If we win our games in hand we move up to seventh, or something like that! We’re winning one and losing one but a bit of consistency from us and a settled squad, which we haven’t had - we get one back from injury and we lose two.
“Hopefully in the next few weeks we’ll have everybody fit and we can move forward.
“There’s a few out at the moment. (Marcus) Casius is still nursing a groin injury, Aiden Pursglove is not back to full fitness yet. Ross Cable’s got a dead leg and Luke Coleman’s got a bad shoulder. It goes on and it sounds like you’re moaning about it but there’s about eight players in the squad that’s injured, that’s why we use the reserves.
“We don’t run on a big budget, contrary to what people believe, and we have to look inside the club to get as many people through as we can.”
The Deres have re-arranged their home game against Beckenham Town - which was frozen off on Boxing Day - to Bank Holiday Monday, 3rd January, kicking off earlier at 1pm.
Jason Huntley’s side are third in the league, with a record of 7 wins and 2 draws from 12 games, but home midweek defeats to lowly Sporting Bengal and Fisher have dented the club’s title charge.
They also look forward to a much-delayed FA Carlsberg Vase tie against King’s Lynn next Saturday.
Collins said: “Firstly, I’d like to thank Peter Palmer, the secretary of Beckenham, and Jason Huntley, the manager, for allowing us the fixture. It was a late notice and they’ve done everything they can to help us get the game on as we haven’t had any fixtures recently.
“It will be a good game, a tight game, it was the last time we played them at their place and I’m looking forward to it. It will be a good fixture.
“They got a good result in the week in the Surrey Cup and they will obviously want to carry the momentum forward and hopefully fly the Kent League flag in the Vase so if it helps them to play the fixture and keep their players’ fit, it’ a good thing.
“All the Kent clubs have to help each other because there’s been no football, which is very disappointing, due to the weather.”
Reflecting on his start to his Erith & Belvedere managerial career, Collins said: “I’ve enjoyed it so far, it’s been hard work. We started with no squad, other than the reserves. Everyone hit the ground running with a basis of eight or nine players from the year before, but we had no-one.
“It’s been tough and I’ve learnt a lot about it. There’s improvement and that’s what I’m looking for. People thought we’d fly away with it, but the chairman knows it’s a building year for consolidation and we’ll see where we finish with it. We’re all happy with it, there’s no unrest there!”
Visit Erith & Belvedere’s website: www.erithandbelvederefc.co.uk
Erith & Belvedere v Beckenham Town
Safety Net Associates Kent League
Bank Holiday Monday 3 January 2011
Kick Off 1:00pm
At Park View Road, Welling, Kent DA16 1SY
Red Dragon I.T. Ltd