We would like to win the league and get the club promotion but so would all the other teams, says Beckenham Town coach Billy Walton

BECKENHAM TOWN coach Billy Walton says he wants his club to win the Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division title this season.

Jason Huntley’s men are in third-place in the table with 36 points on the board from 18 games, five points adrift of leaders Sevenoaks Town, who have two games in hand, but level on points and games with second-placed Crowborough Athletic.

Beckenham Town were dumped out of The Buildbase FA Vase in the Third Round, going out 3-2 after extra time at home to Eastbourne Town.

The defeat seems to be a blessing in disguise for Beckenham, as they have defeated Tunbridge Wells (2-1), Deal Town (6-1) and AFC Croydon Athletic (2-1) in the league to join the promotion race.

Becks travel to bottom-six side Cray Valley on Saturday, a side that are now nine games unbeaten.

“As we go in to our last game of the year at Cray Valley on Saturday, it's been a year of which we have gone from bottom of the league to joint second at the moment which our manager Jason Huntley and our chairman have got to take a lot of credit for,” said Walton.

“We are looking forward to playing Cray Valley, as they are in very good form as we are.  It should be a cracker! As a player, manager and coach these are the games you want to be involved in.

“I believe Cray have turned the corner and they are now an extremely good side, so it will be very difficult for us to go there and get a result.

“But since we was knocked out of the FA Vase which was extremely hard to take we have won the last three games at Tunbridge Wells, Deal Town and AFC Croydon Athletic, which to me shows the character we have within the squad as the Vase game was very difficult to take as we should’ve won and gone through.

“Looking back over the last three games the AFC Croydon Athletic and Tunbridge Wells games were more pleasing to me than beating Deal Town 6-1 as we showed a lot of character to come back from one nil down in both games in extremely difficult conditions and I think they will stand us in good stead for the battles we have ahead on the pitches we will have to play on.

“We are in a great position in the league at the moment and the aspirations are the same as what they were at the start.  We would like to win the league and get the club promotion but so would all the other teams in the league.

“The pleasing thing for me is that this team can get better we are not playing to our potential yet. I hope that is yet to come and I'm sure it will.

“We need to improve in all aspects of our game and work even harder than ever before to sustain the position we are in the league and catch Sevenoaks, which will be very, very hard to do but you never know.”

Beckenham Town’s leading goalscorer is Richard Atkins, who has banged in 20 goals this season.

Visit Beckenham Town’s website: www.beckenhamtownfc.co.uk

Cray Valley (Paper Mills)  v  Beckenham Town
Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division
Saturday 30 December 2017
Kick Off 3:00pm
at Middle Park Avenue, Eltham, London SE9 5HP