It would be a nice little catch to win some silverware, says Bridon Ropes manager Daniel Frost

BRIDON ROPES manager Daniel Frost says he faces a shortage of players for their London Senior Trophy Final against Corinthian-Casuals tomorrow.



Frost has taken charge of the Charlton-based club for 12 games after the club parted company with Ben Kotey.

The club have won six games, drawn once and have been defeated five times since Frost took over and they play the reserve side of the Ryman League Division One South club at Thamesmead Town’s Bayliss Avenue.

Bridon Ropes are in tenth-place in the Kent Invicta League with 8 wins and 4 draws from their 20 league games and face a gruelling fixture backlog before the season closes.

They have defeated VCD Athletic U21 (3-2), Newham United’s first team (6-3), Kent Invicta League rivals Kent Football United (2-1) and knocked out Enfield Town’s under 21’s 2-1 in the semi-finals to reach the London Senior Trophy Final for the first time.

Corinthian-Casuals, who are in seventh-place (bottom four) in the Suburban League Premier Division table with 4 wins, 2 draws and 8 defeats, have defeated lower league opposition to reach the final.

The Surrey-based outfit have defeated Kent Invicta League side Glebe 4-3 on penalties after the game finished 4-4 after extra time in the Second Round, before needing extra-time again to beat Haart of Kent County League Division One West side Peckham Town 3-2 before beating Cockfosters reserves 2-0 at home in the semi-finals.

“Yes, we are looking forward to it,” said Frost, whose brother Dean is the coach at Conference Premier side Welling United.

“We’ve had a bit of a rough couple of weeks in the league so we’re looking forward to it.

“To be honest with you I know nothing about them! We went to watch them against Bromley but it’s hard to tell in one game. They looked quite young. I think they’re an under 21 team but we’re in a cup final so we’ll just give it a go and try to win the trophy.

“We’ve just got to go out and do what we can to be honest. We’ve got players cup-tied and people running marathons the next day so we’ve got a bare eleven and we’ve got some under 21’s on the bench, so we’ll just see what happens and hopefully come out on top and then we’re going to have a night out afterwards.”

Bridon Ropes went down to a 2-1 defeat to Sutton Athletic in the Pain & Glory Kent Invicta League Challenge Trophy Semi-Final First Leg on Dartford’s 3G Pitch at Princes Park on Tuesday night.

Frost said: “I took over 9 or 10 games ago and we was in two quarter-finals in ninth in the league.

“I said to the players our aim is to win one of the cups that we’re in and finish in the top half of the table.

“We’re in another semi-final against Sutton and we’re in the final of the Trophy. If we win one of those two and finish in the top half then we’ve set out what we’ve achieved.

“We’ve had a bit of a rough ride when I took over so it would be a nice little catch to win some silverware.”

Bridon Ropes must cram in their last eight league games by the time they finish their campaign away to Kent Football United on Wednesday 7 May.

“We’ve got too many fixtures as well,” added Frost.

“We’ve still got eight league games to play and they want us to finish by the 7^th May. I can’t see how we’re going to get them in because we don’t have lights.

“Everyone’s got to play the same amount of games but the League Cup games have killed us, the two-legged League Cup.

“We played Kent Football Untied in the quarter-finals and that was two legs and then we had Sutton, which we played on Tuesday night and that takes priority over everything else so all the league games have been put on the back burner so I don’t know how we’re going to do it.

“We’ve got enough bodies. I’ve signed five players near enough on the deadline to help us out.

“People are going away and some of the people that have signed are cup-tied.  We’ve signed eight under 21s so it will be a good chance to have a look at some of them so it will give them a bit of experience. 

Frost, meanwhile, revealed that he has been offered a chance to stay as manager next season but he wants to be in a position to compete against their league rivals.

“I’ve been told the offer’s there for me,” said Frost.

“To be honest we pay £10 subs and if you want to do well in that league some of the teams pay, like three or four teams pay, so if you want to win that league it’s hard to compete, to get quality players down there, when your players pay subs.

“Everyone stayed apart from one player so we’ve been quite lucky so next season is someone comes and offers to pay them it’s a no brainer.

“Hopefully we don’t have to pay subs next year and we can give it a go.”

Corinthian-Casuals  v  Bridon Ropes
London Senior Trophy Final
Saturday 12^th April 2014
Kick Off 3:00pm
At Bayliss Avenue, Thamesmead, London SE28 8NJ