If we are to consider ourselves as one of the better teams in this league we have to go to Hollands & Blair tomorrow and get a result, says Beckenham Town coach Billy Walton

HOLLANDS & BLAIR boss Bryan Greenfield says he’s feeling proud after many youngsters stood up to the plate in The FA Cup last weekend.

 

Greenfield was forced to hand a number of youngsters their debuts and they delivered by beating Hassocks 3-2 in The FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round tie.

“Very proud of what we achieved last week down at Hassocks with the amount of players we had missing, not the quantity of players but key important players to the squad,” said Greenfield.

“We leaned on the youth and to be fair they were outstanding for us with most of them making their competitive debuts in men’s football so it’s real testament to themselves how well they performed and I was extremely proud of them.”

The Blair open their Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division campaign with a home game against Beckenham Town.

Jason Huntley’s side escaped relegation by the skin of their teeth, avoiding their first ever relegation by just one point after finishing in the bottom three above relegated pair Fisher and Erith & Belvedere.

“Looking forward to getting the league campaign started and I’m sure like every other manager and player at this time of the season you go into it with optimism,” said Greenfield.

“Every club has a chance and that’s the beauty of the start of the season.

“Tomorrow will be the same as we still have some away on holiday, a couple suspended and a few injuries.

“I don’t think last year we could’ve coped with this many players missing at once but we have a bigger squad to choose from this year and it gives people opportunities that they may not have had so it’s always intriguing to see how they respond, hopefully in the same manner that they did last week.

“We do welcome back both Tom Staff and Rob Denness back into the squad after a quiet few days away in Ibiza.”

Meanwhile, Beckenham Town coach Billy Walton has given his men a few harsh words after being knocked out of The FA Cup by league rivals Tunbridge Wells last weekend.

Brad Potter scored the only goal of the game to send Jason Bourne’s men through to the Preliminary Round on 19 August.

“We are expecting an extremely difficult game as they (Hollands & Blair) are one of the best teams in this league over the last two seasons,” said Walton.

“Last week’s FA Cup defeat to Tunbridge Wells was a very, very poor game in which we underachieved big time!

“We have talked to the players about the game all week and they know tomorrow we need to perform a lot, lot better to get a result.

“I am expecting us to go there and perform a lot, lot better than last week.

“We have four players available tomorrow who were not available for last week’s game, which will make us a lot, lot stronger and will give us a lot more attacking options which we need.

“If we are to consider ourselves as one of the better teams in this league we have to go to Hollands & Blair tomorrow and get a result!

“We have got a lot of talented players at Beckenham Town this year and we feel the squad is a lot stronger than what it was last year but talk is cheap and we need to perform week in week out on the pitch. Hopefully we will start tomorrow.”

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

Visit Beckenham Town’s website: www.beckenhamtownfc.co.uk

Hollands & Blair  v  Beckenham Town
Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division
Saturday 12^th August 2017
Kick Off 3:00pm
at Star Meadow, Darland Avenue, Gillingham, Kent ME7 3AN