It's no disrespect to the Kent Senior Cup but the League is more important, says Keith McMahon

THAMESMEAD TOWN boss Keith McMahon says the League takes priority over the Kent Senior Cup, writes Stephen McCartney.


Kent County Football Association chief executive Paul Dolan has worked tirelessly over recent months to improve the competition’s profile by bringing back Gillingham and Charlton Athletic and there is a sponsor this year in the form of Portablefloodlights.com.

But McMahon says Tuesday night’s home first round tie against Blue Square Bet South side Tonbridge Angels will take a back-seat as next Saturday’s Ryman League Division One North trip to Suffolk to face newly promoted Soham Town Rangers is more important.

“Big night for us, yes, but Saturday’s more important, to be honest,” said McMahon.

“It’s no disrespect to the Cup, I’d love it to be a couple more weeks after or whatever.

“Tommy Warrilow (the Tonbridge Angels’ manager) is a good friend of mine.  I think, if I’m right, they haven’t got a game on Saturday -  they’re not in the FA Cup – it’s going to be a tough game for us.

“Lew Tozer will definitely not feature, nor will Danny Penny and a couple of others but it gives a couple of people who came on Bradley (Killick) and people like that a run.  David Noel will start and we’ll see how we go.

“We’d like to win the game and I certainly do.  It will be good to have a Cup run in that.  People say you don’t want to be in all the Cups but Wingate & Finchley (who won the Ryman League Cup and London Senior Cup as well as clinching promotion) showed last year that I think you do because if you’ve got a strong enough squad and you keep winning, every player prefers games than training, especially as we haven’t got anywhere to train at the moment, so no, it’s doing us a favour at the moment.

“It’s tough on my players because we had seven or eight with big knocks who played through that yesterday and we go Tuesday and again next Saturday and next Tuesday and we’ve got games for the next four or five weeks and we’ll need whole of our squad.

“As much as it’s a big game and I’d like to beat Tonbridge and I’m sure Tonbridge will put on a decent side and will be respectable. I think it will be a good game but we’ll do our best and see how we get on.”

McMahon takes his side to Cambridgeshire next Saturday to face Soham Town Rangers – a newly promoted side that currently sit in seventeenth place in the Ryman League Division One North table with two wins and five draws from eleven outings.

“I think they’re an up and down side, they’re very good going forward, they score a lot of goals, but they concede a lot of goals,” said McMahon.

“If we take the Margate game out, our record defensively has been excellent.  Our main objective us to get (Lewis) Tozer and that fit, get our shape back. 

“I’m maybe looking for one more player in the middle of the park as we’re a bit think on the ground, a certain type of player that we’re looking for whilst Dean Standen and Richard Butler’s out.  If we keep the run going and we get them two back before Christmas, we’re going to be in a good position to see where we are.

“The team spirit here is fantastic.  There’s some good lads that are just interested in playing for the club and that’s why we’re doing alright.”

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

Thamesmead Town  v  Tonbridge Angels
Kent Senior Cup Sponsored by Portablefloodlights.com First Round
Tuesday 11^th October 2011
Kick Off 7:45pm
at Bayliss Avenue, Thamesmead, London SE28 8NJ