Maybe we'll go a bit more boring and bore people to death to win games, says Beckenham Town assistant Billy Walton

BECKENHAM TOWN assistant manager Billy Walton says his players must match their rival teams if they are to fulfil their title credentials this season.

The Eden Park Avenue outfit finished their Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division campaign in fourth-place and travel to fourteenth-placed finishers Bearsted on the opening day of the season on Saturday.

“Difficult game, like they all are,” said Walton.

“There’s no easy game, silly old cliché, everyone will want to beat each other. It will be extremely difficult.

“If you can get in there for me, we’ve got a lot of talented players. If I can get them to match the other teams work-rate, hopefully our ability will beat them at the end.

“Yet, that’s what I’ve got to work on, just matching teams. Hopefully, no one’s going to out work us our out-fight tooth and nail to get the ball and stuff like that. Hopefully we can do that and I’m sure our better players all come to the fore.”

Beckenham Town can be brilliant one minute and poor the next – often in the same game and Walton needs to bring consistency to the ranks – he has some technical players at the club – if they are to make a serious challenge for the league title.

“By bringing in the players we’ve brought in and making us more solid and tighter at the back and winning games 1-0.  I’d love to win every game 1-0! I’m fed up of winning 3-2 and 4-1 and all those scores that we won by last season. Just keep clean sheets!

“I’ve had a good chat with a few experienced managers over the summer and they’ve all said the same thing to me. We sort of try to pass it on to the players, just be really solid, be very difficult to beat.

“At times we’ve played everyone knows we’re going to play attractive football and this, that and the other and maybe we’ll go a bit more boring and bore people to death and win games.”

Beckenham Town are one of the favourites for the Premier Division title but Walton knows his club will be a scalp for many this season.

“People who know me, I don’t disrespect no one,” he said.

“I’ve been in it too long, any team in this league can come and beat you, whether they’ve lost 20 on the spin or won 20 on the spin.  They can all come here and beat you. What we’ve got to do is make sure that we stick to what we’re good at and just get really good at it.

“I’m expecting three, four or five teams that are banding round who they’ve signed and who they haven’t signed so I’m expecting them to be up there but also expecting all the other teams, they all want the same thing, they all want to win the title.

“There’s good people in this league, they’ve got some good managers and teams in this league and it’s very difficult to win it, very, very difficult. I’ve been trying seven years and I haven’t got near it!”

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

Bearsted  v  Beckenham Town
Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division
Saturday 4 August 2018
Kick Off 3:00pm
at Otham Sports Ground, Honey Lane, Otham, Maidstone, Kent ME15 8RG