There's been so many highlights in our first season, says Hollands & Blair boss Paul Piggott

HOLLANDS & BLAIR manager Paul Piggott says he wants to cap off a season of highs by winning the Macron Southern Counties East Football League Challenge Cup for the first time tomorrow.

Erith & Belvedere will have home advantage because the showpiece Final is being played at Park View Road, although the match is being hosted by Welling United.

It has been a great story for Blair, who won back-to-back Kent Invicta League titles and finished runners-up in their debut at this level, finishing 12 points behind promoted champions Greenwich Borough.

“Of course we were disappointed because we got ourselves in a great position in the league and we never really got to see it over the line, which disappoints us a little bit in that respect,” said Piggott.

“But when the dust settles and we get tomorrow’s final out of the way and the aftermath of that, I’m sure we’ll realise what a great achievement the clubs done.

“It’s been great! It’s not just been this year, the work of the club it’s what they’ve done over the last four or five years, the work being done behind the scenes and the money raised has been a lot and all the rest of it has been going on a lot longer than the last two or three years’.

“We’ve reaped the rewards of that, back-to-back league titles and then getting ourselves in a position we did this year and finishing runners-up and sandwiched between two really good, big clubs (Greenwich Borough and Ashford United) at this level.”

Erith & Belvedere have finished their league campaign in the bottom four, finishing on 38 points from 36 games, finishing a comfortable 18 points clear of the relegation zone, occupied by Holmesdale.

“I’m sure the league position won’t account for nothing tomorrow, they’ll be turning up there the same as we will, wanting to win a game of football and trying their best, so it will be up to us to match them for determination and effort and then see what quality comes through and I’m sure our boys will perform on the day.”

Piggott revealed he is not happy that Erith & Belvedere have home advantage for the Final.

“Yes, I’ve got my own views about the neutral venue, at the end of the day that’s their home ground so how you can have a cup final there? You can dress it up as much as you like with the Welling side of it.

“I don’t think that’s right but that’s my own personal view, not a club view but having said that you can’t take away the place you’re playing at as far as it’s one of the best grounds and one of the best pitches at our level and I’m sure we’ll be going there to do it justice.”

Hollands & Blair striker James McDonald has scored 38 goals this season, followed by his strike partner Rob Denness on 20.

Midfielders Stuart West and Brett Ince have also chipped in with 16 and 12 goals each respectively.

When asked whether he can keep hold off such goalscoring talent for next season, Piggott replied: “They’ll get all the accolades what they do in the season is up there in charts and on websites and everyone talks about that but we’ve got one or two other gems as well that I’m sure we’ll struggle to keep hold off but we’ll worry about that in the summer.

“As a manager if you beat yourself up too much during the season about who’s going to come in for your players, who’s going to stay and go you’ll send yourself potty so one thing I have learnt is wait until the summer, get the season out of the way and you can have a chat with the players’.

“They know where they stand at the club, they’ve been at the club long enough, they know they’ll get my backing whatever they decide.

“Luckily for the club and myself they’ve stayed loyal to us and I’m sure they will again.

“Next season is a million miles away because this season hasn’t finished yet.

“One thing I’m determined to do and everyone else at the club is once we finish tomorrow is enjoy what we’ve done.

“It’s been a great achievement by our club and I don’t want anyone at our club to just dismiss what we’ve done this year and move onto next year like it’s not happened.

“I want to make sure we enjoy it. We’ve come runners-up in a very tough league spending our first season in.

“We’ve set a few personal goals with Macca (McDonald) being leading goalscorer, we’ve only lost one game at home at home, best defensive record in the league, we’ve come runners-up and we’ve got to a cup final which we’re hoping to do well in.

“We’ll enjoy those achievements first then we’ll worry about next season once the dust has settled.”

Piggott was then asked about the highlights and lowlights during their first season in the Southern Counties East Football League.

He said: “Highlights? Crickey, there’s been so many to be quite honest with you. There has been quite a few.

“The lowlights were going out of The FA Vase and the Kent Senior Trophy in the first round.

“The Kent Senior is a competition that we’ve been lucky enough to do quite well in battling from the league below so we wanted to do well in that again.

“It was our first season in The FA Vase and we wanted to make a go of that as well so it was disappointing going out in the first round was disappointing for us.”

Piggott spoke about the club’s first league game of the season as a highlight.

He said: “Even as far as the opening day of the season we were 1-0 down at Sevenoaks away in our first ever game in the league and we get back into the game and we score the winner in the dying seconds.

“It was a great day for the club, our first game at that level and we were lucky to get a win and the celebrations after that was great and it set us up for the rest of the season.

“There’s been too many highs this season as a whole and has been great for everyone. It’s been a great ride and just watching our players perform at this level has been great for me personally and everyone’s whose come to watch.”

Visit Hollands & Blair’s website: www.hollandsandblair.co.uk

Erith & Belvedere  v  Hollands & Blair
Macron Southern Counties East Football League Challenge Cup Final
Bank Holiday Monday 2^nd May 2016
Kick Off 3:00pm
at Park View Road, Welling, Kent DA16 1SY