It's been the best season since I've been manager, says Thamesmead Town boss Keith McMahon

THAMESMEAD TOWN boss Keith McMahon says team camaraderie has made this his best season in charge of the club.



The Mead are enjoying their best campaign in the Ryman League Division One North and sit in third-place in the table, with 54 points from 26 games. 

They are thirteen points behind leaders Maldon & Tiptree, but with a couple of games in hand.

Thamesmead Town bowed out of the Ryman League Cup on Tuesday night after putting in an impressive display against in-form Dulwich Hamlet.

Dulwich Hamlet grabbed the lead, against the run of play, just before the break through Daniel Carr, but Thamesmead forced a penalty shoot out when Rob Carter headed home.

Dulwich Hamlet reached the final by winning the penalty shoot-out 5-3 – Mead keeper Rob Budd striking the post.

McMahon insists his side will bounce back when they welcome eighth-placed Potters Bar Town to Bayliss Avenue tomorrow.

”We’ve won seven league games on the spin. We’re at home, our home record is 12 league wins out of fourteen and we’ve won all of our Cup games at home and we’ve just got to bounce back,” said McMahon.

”Potters Bar are a good side. We can’t feel sorry for ourselves.

”The team all want to play for each other.  You can see the camaraderie that we’ve got for each other, the team spirit and the work rate.”

When asked whether his side can catch leaders Maldon & Tiptree, McMahon replied: ”We’re 13 points behind Maldon with two games in hand.  It’s up for grabs for everyone. Grays beat Aveley away on Monday night, which opened up a gap. No one can go above us apart from Brentwood, but they’ve got too many games. I think if they get into the play-offs they deserve to win it.  They’ve done a miracle to play all their games.

”We’ve beaten first, third and fourth in the last six games in the league and we deserve to be where we are.  We’re level on points with (second-placed) Grays with a game in hand.

”No one expects us to get into the play-offs. We’ve got a ten point gap between us and sixth so we need to keep going and going and chalk the games off.  There’s sixteen games to go. If it was the last four I’d be over the moon but there’s so many twists and turns in this league.

”Maldon are a good side. I think we’re all looking to play for second place, but if we keep winning and Grays keep winning then it’s up to them (Maldon) to win and it’s all to play for so we’re not going to throw it in.

”We’re not going to say we’ll challenge but if we play like we did on Tuesday every game until the end of the year we’re going to be tough to beat.

McMahon is working miracles at the club and wants his club to be respected by their Ryman League rivals.

He said: “At the beginning I think people thought we’d drop away but we played Heybridge, Aveley and Maldon and we came away with three wins out of all three.

”We’re not the most gifted side in our league. We’re not as gifted as individuals as Dulwich are but we’re the best team spirit in the league. We’re the most organised side in the league and we’re difficult to beat.

”Who knows if we’ll hang in there. We could go on a run of six defeats – I very much doubt it with the team spirit that we’ve got here.

”But I know we deserve the respect. The players’ deserve the respect they should get because we’ve put in a good shift this season.

”It’s been a brilliant season. It’s been the best season since I’ve been manager. We’ve got the best side.  Forget about the Kent League winning side, they were all great, but seeing us perform week in week out, which we have for the majority of the season, makes you proud.

”Whatever happens at the end of the year, I can go away and so can the players and go we gave our best. If we do that as a club on and off the pitch then we can hold our head high.”

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

Thamesmead Town  v  Potters Bar Town
Ryman League Division One North
Saturday 23^rd February 2013
Kick Off 3:00pm
At Bayliss Avenue, Thamesmead, London SE28 8NJ