I'm quite delighted really how it's gone, says Seven Acre & Sidcup boss Lee Hills

SEVEN ACRE & SIDCUP manager Lee Hills says he is delighted with his side’s midtable position in the inaugural season of the Kent Invicta League.



Their season has been extended by four days due to the wettest ever drought in Kent and they welcome Umbro Kent Senior Trophy winners Hollands & Blair to Oxford Road on Monday, before welcoming tenth-placed Woodstock Park on Wednesday.

Seven Acre & Sidcup sit in ninth-place in the Kent Invicta League table on 39 points, four points behind Lewisham Borough and Hills is pleased with the way things have gone since their elevation up the football pyramid.

“Well, considering at the start of the season, us and Meridian coming from the lowest ranked league were supposed to be the whipping boys, I think the season’s gone quite well,” said 48-year-old Hills, who is also the secretary of the club.

“We just faltered out at the end, got some injuries, lost a few players on the way.  As a whole I’m quite delighted really with how it’s gone.”

Seven Acre were turning out in the Kent County League last season in nearby Abbey Wood.

Hills said: “We’ve come up from division two west and we only finished, I think, fourth in that so I’m quite pleased with how the first season has gone in this new league.

Hollands & Blair go into the game sitting in fifth-place in the table and they can leapfrog over Ashford United into fourth if they win their last two games.

The Gillingham based outfit also have two games left to play, but at the time of writing this article, their trip to Charlton to play second-from-bottom side Meridian has yet been re-arranged after being postponed due to a waterlogged pitch yesterday.

Paul Piggott’s side went down in history as being the first Kent Invicta League side to win the Umbro Kent Senior Trophy, when they stunned Sevenoaks Town 2-1 to win the silverware at Welling United’s Park View Road ground earlier in the month.

Hills’ is looking forward to the game.

He said:  “We’re struggling injury wise, but we have done for the last six or seven weeks. I’m just getting a side out but not the strongest side we can, but in the end we have to play the two games, Monday and I believe Wednesday, but I’ll be glad when the season’s finally ended so we can get ready for next year.

“I’m expecting a good game,” added Hills. “They’re a good, well organised side and a real credit to the League for winning the Kent Senior Trophy.  It puts the League in good stead really considering Sutton Athletic won the Kent Intermediate Shield.  It’s panned out quite a very strong side.

“They’re (Hollands & Blair) an organised side, hard to break down, very strong side.  I’m looking forward to another hard game, a good game, as they’re a nice side.  They’re not a bad side.  If we can get something out of it, it will be good.”

Looking further ahead to Woodstock Park’s visit on Wednesday, Hills added: “Obviously we want to go out of the campaign with a win and hopefully we can.  If we get a win or a draw we stay above them.   I’d like to get something out of that game at least a point just to cement our place where we are really, middle of the table.”

Seven Acre & Sidcup are coming to the end of their first season playing at Oxford Road, which was Cray Wanderers’ home until last summer.  The Wands have played at Bromley’s Hayes Lane since 1999, but they played reserve team football at the Sidcup ground up until last season and are looking to build a new stadium at Sandy Lane in St Paul’s Cray in the near future.

The largest crowd to watch a match at Oxford Road was 1,523 was when Cray Wanderers welcomed Stamford in the FA Vase in 1980.

But Seven Acre & Sidcup’s largest crowd at Oxford Road was for Ashford United’s visit back in September, which attracted a crowd of 80 and that figure could well be broken tomorrow.

“We’ve got a ten-year lease in place,” revealed Hills.  “We spent a considerable amount of money pre-season.  One of the paths have gone in by the stand, so we’ve spent a lot of money down there already.

“We need to do a lot of work on the pitch and the surrounds. We’d like to make it our home.  We’re trying to make it our home.   We’re getting good support from the club and the social club and good support from the local people.

“We’re trying to make it our home and hopefully we can.”

Hills added: “I hope there will be a big crowd.  We’ve done a little bit earlier kick-off as well with the League’s permission because of the Manchester (derby) game.  It will be on in the bar.

“Hopefully we’ll get a few more people to come down to watch us.  It will be nice.  It’s a 6:15pm kick-off and that’s been all agreed by the League and hopefully we’ll get a few groundhoppers coming down to see what we have done down there at our new place.”

One thing they will notice is that the home side will be wearing some very high squad numbers on the back of their red and black shirts.

Hills said: “The reason behind that is at the start of the season it was decided by the committee to have squad numbers where the players (of our two teams) keep hold of all their shirts, shorts, socks and tracksuits.  They take it home.  It’s theirs. 

“Hopefully next year we’ll go back to a traditional 1-15.  When you’re doing the team-sheet it’s so hard to keep putting 33’s down there. 

“We thought about doing it for one season, but we’re going back to the traditional 1-15 next year.”

Admission charges for the game are: £3 (adults) and £1.50 (concessions).

Visit Seven Acre & Sidcup’s website: www.sevenacresidcup.com

Seven Acre & Sidcup  v  Hollands & Blair
Kent Invicta League
Monday 30^th April 2012
Kick Off 6:15pm
At Oxford Road, Sidcup, Kent DA14 6LW