Don't rule us out in promotion race, says Ashford chief

THE JOINT-owner of Ashford Town believes Kingstonian will slip up when pitches turn for the worse in the tough middle part of the season, writes Stephen McCartney.

Don Crosbie insists Nuts & Bolts boss Steve Lovell will guide the club towards the Ryman League Division One South play-off zone in the second part of the season.

And Lovell’s men travelled to the league leaders last Sunday and goals from James Humphreys, Paul Jones and a rare goal from Anthony Browne, sealed an impressive 3-2 win at Kingsmeadow, silencing the home fans and opening up the title race.

Kingstonian, four points clear at the top of the table, travel to fifth-placed side Dulwich Hamlet on Friday night.

Meanwhile, the Kent club climbed up to 12^th place in the table with 24 points from 19 games - fourteen points adrift of the K’s - and Mr Crosbie says Lovell and his team will produce the goods in the club’s remaining 25 league games - starting with Saturday’s home clash with Eastbourne Town.

“We should certainly be in the top four of five,” said Mr Crosbie, when speaking to www.kentishfootball.co.uk, immediately after the club’s fine win in south-west London last Sunday.

“We haven’t lost to really anybody in the top of the table. We’ve drawn a lot of games.

“We’ve been struggling without Mark Lovell from the first game of the season. We haven’t really replaced him (as) we’re waiting for Mark to come back.”

AFC Wimbledon had played on the normally pristine Kingsmeadow pitch 24 hours before Ashford’s visit to the stunning stadium.

And Mr Crosbie believes teams will slip up when they have to play on heavy pitches during the gruelling part of the campaign

“This is the time of the year when things start to get tough,” explained Mr Crosbie.

“The grounds get heavy; the weather plays havoc with hamstrings and pulled muscles, etc. Players’ get tired, the football’s not as attractive; it is difficult and training gets harder.

“Everything gets together so the teams who have got the strength in depth, or the teams who are going to be there at the end will start to come through after Christmas.”

Mr Crosbie has kept calm during the club’s barren winless run.

“We’ve not panicked since our long run of draws,” he said.

“We knew what we did at the end of last season - the last ten games proved it. We went from near the bottom to almost the play-off’s - within eight games.

“If we go on a run now and win three, four or five games, all off a sudden we’re in there amongst it.

“We’re definitely always been confident we’re in the play-off’s. I mean, it’s just a question of putting a run together.

“We’re only fourteen points off (top spot) anyway. Come January, the middle of January, that’s when you can start saying whose going to be there or there abouts, because we saw teams from the season before last when Hastings were at the bottom and come the end they went up in the play-off’s.”

Mr Crosbie also believes their win at Kingstonian last Sunday “might be the turning point.”

Eastbourne Town, meanwhile, arrive in Kent on the back of a smash-and-grab raid over promotion chasing side Cray Wanderers, winning 2-1 at The Saffrons.

The East Sussex side are one place below the Nuts & Bolts in 13^th place in the table and like Lovell’s men have picked up 24 points from 19 games.

Last weeks win over Ian Jenkins’ side ended a run of five games without a win, but Lovell, also speaking to www.kentishfootball.co.uk following the win at Kingsmeadow, expects another tough encounter.

“They’re a tough team to play,” warned Lovell. “They beat Cray at the weekend, they’re not easy.

“When we went down there last year (we) got spanked by them.

“If we play like we can do there’s not many teams in the league that can beat us.

“We need to build consistency, that’s the main thing. There’s no good getting three points here today (at Kingstonian) and dropping points at home on Saturday.

“We need to get on a bit of a roll and if you win three games you’ll (move) up the league.”

Lovell insists he has the players at the Kingsnorth based club to get themselves promoted into the Ryman Premier League, where teams express themselves more and take their chances in front of goal.

“I’ve never had any doubts,” said Lovell. “People have had doubts, people have had their doubts but I’ve always had faith in my own ability and the ability of the players.

“I know it’s only one result, but people who have seen the game will know what a talented bunch of players we’ve got.

“If we can get out of this league that bunch of players will do very well in the next league as well as that is more of a footballing league and it would be nice to have a chance of getting out of this league.”

Visit Ashford Town’s website:  www.ashfordtownfc.co.uk

Ashford Town v Eastbourne Town
Ryman League Division One South
Saturday 6^th December 2008
Kick Off 3:00pm
At The Homelands, Ashford Road, Kingsnorth, Ashford, Kent TN26 1NJ