Chatham Town boss Paul Piggott: They have to go out there and perform but we’ll keep going, we’ll keep fighting

CHATHAM TOWN manager Paul Piggott says his side will keep fighting to keep the club in the Ryman League.

The club went down to a 3-2 home defeat to their local rivals Sittingbourne on Tuesday night to ensure that Piggott has lost nine, won two and drawn two of his 13 games in charge of the club since taking over from Darren Anslow.

Chatham Town remain in the bottom three in the Ryman League Division One South table on 21 points and have 13 league games to avoid relegation to the Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division.

The club finished second from bottom of 22 clubs in their current division at the end of the 2010-11 season but they received a reprieve from relegation but their  punishment was to spend four divisions in the Northern Division, before moving back over to the Southern Division last season, finishing in the bottom six.

Piggott must raise morale ahead of three really tough games.  They travel to sixth-placed Corinthian-Casuals on Saturday, host second-placed Dorking Wanderers on 18 February, before travelling to tenth-placed under-achievers Hastings United on 25 February.

“They’re all tough games,” said Piggott, after seeing substitute Jordan Gallacher score two goals inside the last five minutes to give his side a flattering two goals against Sittingbourne, who were miles better.

“Listen, the position that we’re in and we’re fighting for everything we’ve got. Every game is going to be difficult.  Those boys are up there in the League but the one thing the League has shown this year, some of the boys at the top have lost to the lower teams.

“Any team at the top, they’re under pressure and they can’t afford to lose games of football either so you never know on the day.  It all depends what sort of side turns up.”

Unfancied Corinthian-Casuals are one point adrift of fifth-placed Greenwich Borough going into the game.

“It’s another tough game. We’ve had words in the changing room and we have to brush ourselves down,” said Piggott.

“We’ll get to training tonight and we’ll talk about a few things. We’ll put a session on and we’ll need to react again and bounce back. We need to bounce back, put a smile on our faces and go again.”

When asked about bringing in new players to Maidstone Road, Piggott said: You’re never happy with what you’ve got but it’s easy to say that because you lose a few games of football, get everyone out and get a new team!

“This club has had a lot of players go through the club this season, so a settled side is one of the things we were trying to do since we’ve been here but if the right players come along you need to replace the ones that are struggling. We’re not silly enough to know that, but we’ll see what happens.

“It’s hard to attract players to a team that’s third from bottom in the league. There’s a lot of players that will come to you if you’re third and you’re flying but it shows character of a player to come to a football club that’s up against it.”

Piggott has not been used to being involved in a relegation dog-fight as he enjoyed nothing but success down the road in Gillingham at Hollands & Blair.

“It is tough, of course it’s tough,” he said, after fighting tooth and nail with promoted side Greenwich Borough to finish runners-up in the Southern Counties East Football League last season.

“The situation in football don’t change at any club.  It was about winning games of football and that’s what we’re about at the moment.  We still need to win games of football.

“Sometimes you probably over analyse as a management team when you’ve lost a game of football.  You probably shouldn’t do. At the end of the day, you set them up, they have to go out there and perform but we’ll keep going, we’ll keep fighting.”

Visit Chatham Town’s website: www.chathamtownfc.info

Corinthian-Casuals  v  Chatham Town
Ryman League Division One South
Saturday 11^th February 2017
Kick Off 3:00pm
at King Georges Field, Hook Rise South, Tolworth, Surrey KT6 7NA