Our aim was to start well - something we didn’t do last season - and keep ourselves in touching distance with the top group of sides, says Canterbury City boss Ben Smith

CANTERBURY CITY boss Ben Smith says his side must improve if they are to continue being the early pacesetters in the Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division.

Smith’s side sit at the top of the table with a 100% record from their opening three games, having beaten Erith Town (3-1) on their opening game at The Charles Sports Ground, before coming away from Lordswood with a 2-0 win.

City came away from Croydon with a 3-1 win at the Croydon Sports Arena, which pleased the manager.

“Delighted with the result on Saturday, Croydon will be a tough place to go to this season.  They are a much-improved side and it’s a difficult surface to play on,” said Smith.

“They’ve knocked Whitstable out of The FA Cup and taken Faversham to a replay so to go there with seven players out and get the three points is a massive bonus and confidence boost to the squad.”

Deal Town were knocked out of The FA Cup by losing their Preliminary Round replay to Glebe (3-0) last Tuesday night and followed that up by knocking Beckenham Town of the top by scoring two late goals.

“Deal will be another step-up in opposition, they have some excellent players there and I expect them to finish a lot higher than they did last season with the quality they have.

“Our aim was to start well - something we didn’t do last season - and keep ourselves in touching distance with the top group of sides and we are on target to do that so far but we’re three games in so an awful lot can change very quickly.

“We know we need to improve with some tough games coming up and that’s what we are focused on.”

Visit Canterbury City’s website:  www.canterburycityfc.net

Canterbury City   v  Deal Town
Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division
Bank Holiday Monday 28 August 2017
Kick Off 3:00pm
At The Charles Sports Ground, St Leonards Road, Deal, Kent CT14 9AU