The FA Cup is a game that really can stamp your club on the map and I’d be lying to say I wouldn’t want nothing more than to get to the First Round proper, says Erith Town boss Adam Woodward

ERITH TOWN manager Adam Woodward says he wants to replicate Scott Porter’s Hythe Town side of 2010 and become the first club in the Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division to reach The FA Cup First Round.

 

Hythe Town played then League Two side Hereford United and came away from Edgar Street with a 5-1 defeat and were the first Kent League side to reach that stage of the competition for 53 years’.

The modern day Dockers, meanwhile, opened their league campaign with a 2-0 defeat away to Marcel Nimani’s Whitstable Town last Saturday.

“It was disappointing to come away from Whitstable with a loss – a penalty in the first half and a goal with the last kick of the game after we hit the bar 30 seconds before was a real kick in the teeth but Whitstable are a good side and will be up there at the end of the season,” said Woodward.

“They have a great manager and on another day the game could have gone the other way but we must move on to the next game.”

Before Woodward can start dreaming about the glitz and glamour of playing in The FA Cup in November, he must take his side down to near Brighton to tackle Hassocks in The FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round tomorrow.

Hassocks impressed the Dockers’ boss when he witnessed their 3-0 win at Loxwood on Tuesday night, which followed their 1-1 draw at home to Eastbourne Town on the opening day of their Southern Combination League Premier Division.

Hassocks go into their FA Cup tie in third-place after two outings, with Sean Muggeridge’s Crowborough Athletic the only side with six points at this early stage of the season.

Erith Town, meanwhile, travel down to The Beacon sitting in the bottom five after 90 minutes of league football.

“The FA Cup is a game that really can stamp your club on the map and I’d be lying to say I wouldn’t want nothing more than to get to the First Round proper,” said Woodward.

“It’s a long way off and we need to take each game as it comes but it’s not an impossible dream.  Just look at Hythe, they done it in the old Kent League.

“I watched Hassocks on Tuesday night and I must say I was very impressed with them as a team and this will be a tough ask to go there and win but we have trained twice this week and have prepared the best we can.

“This season we will look to improve like we have done every year since I came in five years ago and we will try to compete but will not step away from our believes of playing young hungry players, which again we have done in pre-season and have seen the likes of Thomas Walters, Joseph Bermingham play a big part in pre-season and 16-year-old Rowan Slater made his debut at Whitstable.”

Peabody own the stadium at Bayliss Avenue and Erith Town have agreed to play at the venue for two-years, joining First Division side Sporting Club Thamesmead.

“We have an exciting season ahead with the move to Bayliss Avenue in Thamesmead and I like to thank the army of volunteers for all of their hard work and committee members and even my backroom staff who have transformed the place and beathed a breath of fresh air int it, not only for us but also for our fellow ground partners Sporting Club Thamesmead,” said Woodward.

“We really hit the local community giving away 2,000 season tickets to local children to attend our games and credit goes to Michael Avery heading all this up who also put on a fantastic community day which saw a crowd of 400.

Visit Erith Town’s website: www.erithtown.com

Hassocks  v  Erith Town
The Emirates FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round
Saturday 5 August 2023
Kick Off 3:00pm
at The Beacon, Brighton Road, Clayton, Hassocks, West Sussex BN6 9PF