We will have to go toe-to-toe with Deal and match them in all departments, says Cray Valley boss James Collins

CRAY VALLEY (Paper Mills) manager James Collins says he is expecting another tough game at Deal Town tomorrow night.

The Millers travel down to the Kent coast in a bid to reach the Kent Reliance Senior Trophy Final after Saturday’s first attempt was put on the back burner due to a waterlogged pitch at The Charles Sports Ground.

Cray Valley go into the game in a rich vein of form and have climbed into the top five in the Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division table with 47 points from their 25 league outings – 11 points adrift of leaders Ashford United.

Deal Town have climbed up to thirteenth-place in the table with 25 points from as many games and are 10 points clear of the relegation zone.

The winners of Tuesday night’s game shall meet Ashford United in the Final.

Danny Lye’s side defeated Canterbury City 3-0, courtesy of striker Adrian Stone scoring a nine minute hat-trick towards the end of the game between two Homelands Stadium clubs.

“We are in for training tonight, just so we can go through a few things in preparation for tomorrow night’s game,” said Collins.

“We had a game plan but we have the chance to look at a few other options as quite a few of the boys were away on a stag do at the weekend, so it will be good to have them back available for tomorrow night’s game.

“The Final hasn’t been spoken about if I’m honest.  We are still competing in four competitions and as we have said to the boys, you have got yourselves into a fantastic position that now every game we go into is a big game.

“So far we have handled it quite well.  We have won 12 of our last 16 so like Deal we go into the game in good form.

“I saw that Ashford beat Canterbury at the weekend but like I said it doesn’t matter who is in the Final unless we are one of those teams.

“I have never been to Deal and had an easy game and given the fact that it’s a Semi-Final we know what we are coming up against.

“We will have to go toe-to-toe with Deal and match them in all departments but the boys are raring to go and we are all very much looking forward to the game.”

Cray Valley travel to Deal Town again in the League on Saturday, before a back-to-back home Macron Challenge Cup and League double against Ashford United.

“We travel there again on Saturday but we will think about that after Tuesday,” added Collins, who is in his first season in charge of the club.

Visit Cray Valley’s website: www.cray-valley.co.uk

Deal Town  v  Cray Valley (Paper Mills)
Kent Reliance Senior Trophy Semi-Final
Tuesday 14^th February 2017
Kick Off 7:45pm
At Charles Sports Ground, St Leonards Road, Deal, Kent CT14 9AU