If we get into the play-offs it will be unbelievable, says Thamesmead Town boss Keith McMahon

THAMESMEAD TOWN boss Keith McMahon says it will be unbelievable if he guides his side in to the Ryman League Division One North play-offs at the end of the season.


The Mead are presently in sixth-place in the table, with 30 points from 18 games and can move to within a point if they beat third-placed Heybridge Swifts at Bayliss Avenue on Saturday.

“We’re striving to try to get into the play-offs,” said McMahon, whose side went down to a 2-1 defeat to Cray Wanderers in the last sixteen of the London Senior Cup (Sponsored by Coventry Scaffolding) on Tuesday night.

“We’re going to make mistakes, we’re not far away and if we want to get into the Ryman Premier, which we do, we’ll be playing sides like that week in week out.

“It just goes to show that we can compete. We need a bit more quality and a bit more composure on the ball but we’re coming on well and we’re not far away so that’s what we want to be doing and see where we go.”

McMahon insists Saturday is a game that can make or break his season.

“We’ve got firepower up front so hopefully that will set us in good stead for the busy Christmas period.  If we do play well we do have a decent home record.

“It’s a massive game and it’s a game we can’t afford to lose.  We’ve got one game in hand over them and we can go above them so we have to be pushing and see where we are after New Years Day at Aveley, which is a hard game for us and Brentwood so we’ve got some big games.  We normally play better against the top sides and if we can come through it we’ll hopefully we can do alright.”

McMahon takes his side to sixteenth-placed Chatham Town – their only Kent derby – on Boxing Day.

“It’s a Kent derby for us, it’s going to be a tough game,” said McMahon.

“We always have a tough game against Chatham. We’ve done well against them over the last few years’.

“We’ve got to go down there on Boxing Day.  It’s a hard game after Christmas. It’s how both sets of players’ conduct themselves over the Christmas period.  You want them to enjoy themselves, they’ve got famialies, we don’t pay them enough to tell them not to but hopefully because of the position that we’re in they hopefully will be committed and take it a litlte bit more seriously and won’t go as mad.

“Boxing Day is a tough game.  We’re away from home and if we can get somethnig there, I think the main thing is throhgh this break we’d be in a good position. We just need to put a litlte run together, haing in with the top four or five and then we’ll see where we are after Christmas.”

McMahon is working miracles at a club that doesn’t attract the support the team deserves – only 45 watched their London Senior Cup tie against Cray Wanderers in midweek and their largest home crowd of the season was 71 against Romford for their opening home game on a Tuesday night.

He said: “When you see the situation and where we are in the league sometimes you have to pinch yourselves, especially when you see the conditions we’re all playing in at the moment with the development and the car park.  It eats away with you and the money and things like that.

“But we’ve all got the bright future just around the corner.  Yes you see what we’re like, we’re just a hardworking, battling, honest side.  The lads’ give us 110% every week.  Sometimes, maybe, I take that for granted a litlte bit and we have to cut them a litlte bit of slack with the odd poor result that we’re going to get but we’ve got the team spirit here. Hopefully we should be hard to beat.”

McMahon added: “If we get into the play-offs it will be unbelievable for this football club, but it’s a hell of a long way to go.  We’ve got half a season left to play but we’ve got the heart and the desire in the changing room.  We’ve got the sort of lads that will battle us there. 

“We’ve played all the top sides and we’ve done alright. We’ve just got to keep picking points up, keep winning our home games.  Come April we’ll be there and if we are it will be brilliant.”

The club’s car park resembles a lake, but McMahon can finally see the light at the end of a very dark tunnel when it comes to finally moving in to their new facilities at Bayliss Avenue.

“The power will be going on, on Friday and then most of the stuff’s done. The changing room’s all done, the bar’s all in.

“We could be in, maybe say hopefully end of January-February, but you just don’t know, but I feel sorry for the Trust (Trust Thamesmead).  They’re on it on a bigger scale.  We’re having to work in the conditions and we keep hearing things that they’re being tied down by the builders.

“It’s just getting the power on. It’s all sitting there. It’s all generated at the moment. They’re pulling their hair out and it’s killing us as a club financially as well.

“The bar and function area, we just can’t get anything in. We can’t even plan for next year because we don’t know what’s going on.

“Hopefully once we move in the club can move forward and take a whole lot of pressure off me. I can have a breather and call it a day maybe.”

Visit Thamesmead Town’s website: www.thamesmeadtownfc.co.uk  


Thamesmead Town  v  Heybridge Swifts
Ryman League Division One North
Saturday 22^nd December 2012
Kick Off 3:00pm
at Bayliss Avenue, Thamesmead, London SE28 8NJ