It's down to the players to make sure we finish off the job, says Tony Beckingham

PHOENIX SPORTS’ joint-manager Tony Beckingham says he is expecting their hardest game of the season at Seven Acre & Sidcup tomorrow.



Phoenix Sports are unbeaten at the top of the Kent Invicta League table, having collected nineteen wins and two draws from their 21 games.

Seven Acre & Sidcup boss Chris Tuley has guided his club to a respectable sixth-place in the table, with ten wins and three draws from their 19 outings.

The home side are 26 points behind the league leaders and with Hollands & Blair three points behind Phoenix Sports, Beckingham admits the pressure is on not to slip up at Oxford Road tomorrow.

”Firstly I hope that the game goes ahead, the weather is doing it’s very best to ruin this football season for everyone,” said Beckingham.

”Assuming the game does get played then simply we expect it to be one of the hardest games of the season.

”This game is a little different as quite a few of the boys at Seven Acre are former Phoenix players, along with the management team.

”The manager won’t need to get his team motivated for tomorrow.  Every player wants to put one over their old club and this will be no different.”

Beckingham watched Seven Acre & Sidcup grab a last minute winner at Lewisham Borough on 7 March and knows what to expect.

He said: “I’ve seen them play a few times this season and I know that they are a very competitive and solid side who will be extremely difficult to break down.

”The most important thing for us to do tomorrow is compete. If we don’t compete with them then we’ll get beat.  It’s as simple as that!

”They also have some good strikers in Tim Beckford who’s got bags of pace and I believe that Alfie Harris (who played for Phoenix Sports last season) has gone back there as we know, which is bad luck for us.

”They play some decent football as well so all together this is going to be a really big ask for us. 

”The one thing that won’t do any favours to either side is the pitch and particularly after the weather we’ve been having. It may be a case of playing the conditions as well as the opposition tomorrow but we’ll see what it’s like when we get there.”

Tuley said today that all the pressure is on Phoenix Sports tomorrow – and Beckingham agrees.

“I read their manager’s comments and I’d have to agree with everything he said. The pressure is on us and it’s down to the players to make sure they finish off the job that they’ve been doing so well up to now.

”Last time out we played Sutton who are very similar to Seven Acre in my opinion. We created enough chances to win the game comfortably but the boys just didn’t have their shooting boots on that day.

”I’ll be happy with the same performance and as long as we can create the same amount of chances I’m confident that we can get the result that we need.

”Hollands & Blair keep on winning and we know that if we slip up they’ll be ready and waiting to take advantage.  It certainly doesn’t help when they get awarded three points without having to kick a ball but that’s a different story.”

Visit Phoenix Sports’ website: www.phoenixsportsclub.org

Seven Acre & Sidcup  v  Phoenix Sports
Kent Invicta League
Saturday 23^rd March 2013
Kick Off 3:00pm
At Conservative Club, Oxford Road, Sidcup, Kent DA14 6LW