It's good that other people are noticing our progress, says Abbott

Friday 29th January 2010

SITTINGBOURNE boss Gary Abbott admits to feeling “gutted” over his side’s disappointing defeat at Metropolitan Police in midweek, writes Stephen McCartney.

The Brickies followed last weekend’s 4-1 home win over Corinthian-Casuals with a 2-1 reverse at Imber Court, and this hurt Abbott.

“I was a bit gutted about Tuesday,” Abbott told www.kentishfootball.co.uk on the eve of their Kent derby at Ramsgate.

“Obviously the four wins that we’ve had and how we played on Saturday, I was confident of going over there and winning.

“We got off to a good start, we went 1-0 up and we controlled the game for the first twenty minutes but then Jimmy Bottle had to come off with a tight hamstring and from then they seemed to be on top of the game, creating loads of chances in the first half and they managed to score.”

Looking ahead to their trip to Southwood Stadium tomorrow, Abbott appreciates comments made by Ramsgate manager Jim Ward this week, saying that Sittingbourne are the “dark horses” for a play-off place.

Although sitting in eleventh place in the Ryman League Division One South table, Sittingbourne are just three places and a couple of points adrift of the Rams and a derby delightful win will see Abbott’s side leapfrog over their opponents.

“I’ve hears a couple of players and a couple of other managers say it as well,” Abbott said of Ward’s comments.

“It’s good that other people are noticing we’re making progress and we are and I feel very confident we can get into that fifth spot. If we can get any higher that will be a bonus but fifth spot is what we want.

“Once we get into the play-off’s, we can beat anybody on our day.

“We know we’ve got a tough game against Ramsgate tomorrow, especially knowing we beat them at home as well. They want to get into the play-off’s as well.

“If we can play a lot better than we did on Tuesday night, there’s no reason why we can’t go and get three points.”

Abbott revealed that Bottle does have a chance of taking to the field tomorrow, but that all depends on passing a fitness test prior to the big kick-off.

“He came off after ten minutes as we didn’t want to go any further with it,” explained Abbott.

“Hamstrings could be dodgy and he could be out for six weeks if it’s a bad one. We took him off early as we didn’t want it to get worse.

“To be fair it’s 75% he’s going to play (tomorrow). He’s got a little knot in his leg. He’s been out for a run and it seems to be ok.

“We’re going to get there at 1 o’clock tomorrow and have a nice little warm up and see how it is. I won’t know until about half-one to se if he’s going to play or not.”

Visit Sittingbourne’s website: www.sittingbournefc.co.uk

Ramsgate v Sittingbourne

Ryman League Division One South

Saturday 30th January 2010

Kick Off 3:00pm

At Southwood Stadium, Prices Avenue, Ramsgate, Kent CT11 0AN