It's nice to have a cup game because it keeps the season alive, says Corinthian boss Michael Golding

CORINTHIAN manager Michael Golding says he is not fearing playing the two biggest clubs in their division this week.

Corinthian welcome Ashford United to Gay Dawn Farm tonight for a place in the Quarter-Finals of the Kent Senior Cup, before travelling to league leaders Hastings United on Saturday.

Tommy Warrilow’s side are in third-place in the Isthmian League South East Division, with 55 points from their 28 games after beating second-placed side Cray Valley (Paper Mills) 3-1 at Homelands Stadium on Saturday, closing the gap on Kevin Watson’s men to a point with a game in hand.

Hastings United are nine points clear at the top of the table, while Corinthian have been in eleventh-place in the table for their past six matchdays after Jack Mahoney’s 89^th minute deflected free-kick sealed a point in Harry Hudson’s first game in charge of Sevenoaks Town at the weekend.

“Same as what we’ve done in all the cup games so far this year, or the majority of cups, we’ll mix it up slightly,” said Golding.

“We’re very threadbare at the moment, we’re down to the bare bones in terms of players’ available for varying reasons. It’s part and parcel, it’s incredibly frustrating but it’s one of those things that we have to deal with but we’ll rotate as much as necessarily.

“We’ll bring a couple of boys back in that haven’t been available, all the while preparing for Hastings on Saturday, which is probably the bigger game.

“Ashford are a very, very good side and they’re at the top of the table and challenging for the title for a reason so we’ll be massive underdogs for that and if we can manage to put a game plan together and cause them a few problems, who knows but it’s nice to have a cup game because it keeps the season alive but Saturday is the priority.”

Gary Elphick’s Hastings United came away from Chichester City with a 2-0 win at the weekend, with new signing Danny Parish netting a penalty on his debut before James Hull sealing the deal late on.

“It’s tough as they come but that’s why we worked hard in the SCEFL to get out of that division and to have these kind of games so we’re certainly not worried about that,” said Golding, whose side beat Hastings United 2-1 on 6 November.

“We’ll be as prepared as we can be.  We’ll have a few boys back and the team will be slightly different, no doubt and we’ll go there and enjoy it.  We won’t go there and roll over, absolutely not.

“We’ve already beaten them at home this season, they’re a different side now, they’ve got a new gaffer and a few different players and they’re on an unbelievable run of winning games of football and they’ve got a certain way of playing and we’ve done our homework on them and we know they have to be off their game and we have to be at the absolute best of our ability and best of our mental attitude to go there and get anything.

“There will be a great crowd there, they’ve had over a thousand for their last few attendances so it will be a great opportunity but we’re not going to go there and be star struck or awe struck or anything like that.

“Were going to go there to try to win a game of football and keep our unbeaten run in the league going.”

Corinthian  v  Ashford United
Kent Senior Cup Second Round
Tuesday 1 March 2022
Kick Off 7:45pm
at Gay Dawn Farm, Valley Road, Longfield, Kent DA3 8LY