FA TROPHY SPECIAL: Ward forced to offload one striker

JIM WARD has told Ramsgate supporters not to panic over the club’s current position in the Ryman Premier League table, writes Stephen McCartney.

The Rams are still fourth-bottom in the table, with a record of two wins and six draws from 16 games, and without a win in the league for nine games.

Despite going down to a 3-1 defeat at Hastings United on Tuesday night, Ward, speaking to www.kentishfootball.co.uk tonight, urges fans to keep calm.

“To be fair, I was impressed with Hastings, they’re a young side, very energetic,” said the Scot.

“Other days it would have ended up a draw, but at this moment we’re not getting enough of the breaks.

“It’s certainly not because we’re not working hard, we’re giving it a right good go. To be fair, we’re not playing too bad either.

“We’ve won in the Trophy, we’ve had a great win at Tonbridge, so it’s not eight games (without a win) in a row. We could do with points in the league, without a doubt.”

A different type of pressure falls on the Rams on Saturday, travelling to Hitchin Town in the Second Qualifying Round of the FA Carlsberg Trophy.

The Hertfordshire side are presently 16^th in the British Gas Business Premier League table (the same level as Ramsgate), with three wins and three draws from their 11 league outings.

“We’ll go to Hitchin and try and enjoy ourselves and keep ourselves in the hat,” said Ward.

“We’ll take one game at a time. When you’re at the top of the league or the bottom of the league you can only organise yourself properly.

“I’ve got a lot of good players at this club.

“We know they’re big and strong, direct, they generally play 4-4-2. I’ve identified their top players, we’ve had them watched.

“The chairman would certainly like us to win for financial things. It doesn’t matter if you’re playing at Wembley or Rag Rovers, every game is important. I would put the same amount of energy into preparation as I would for any game.

“We’re only seven games from Wembley. Without a doubt, we’re going there to win the game. The last four or five games we’ve played alright, without a doubt.

Ward explained his reasons behind releasing striker, Mo Takaloo, who made the switch across Thanet to Margate, one of his former clubs.

“It’s a straight forward transfer,” said Ward. “I had to choose between Jay May (who arrives from Bromley for an undisclosed fee) and Takaloo and I couldn’t afford to keep both of them.

“Unfortunately for Mo it was him who I decided to let go.

“You hear it all the time, you’re hearing all these clubs are struggling, not only that, crowds are down as people don’t have the money to watch.”

Ward added: I’m not rushing into the transfer market looking for players.”

Visit Ramsgate’s website: www.ramsgate-fc.co.uk

Hitchin Town v Ramsgate
FA Carlsberg Trophy Second Qualifying Round
Saturday 1^st November 2008
Kick Off 3:00pm
At Top Field, Fishponds Road, Hitchin, Hertfordshire, SG5 1NU