I will not throw in the towel, says defiant Stones boss Peter Nott

Wednesday 15th September 2010

MAIDSTONE UNITED boss Peter Nott says he is looking for his struggling side to show some character during their trip to highflying Kingstonian on Saturday, writes Stephen McCartney.

The Stones were knocked out of the FA Cup by big-budget Ryman League Division One South side Whitehawk last weekend - and travel to Kingsmeadow sitting second from bottom in the Ryman Premier League table with just two points from their first six league games.

“It was particularly disappointing,” Nott told www.kentishfootball.co.uk about his side’s FA Cup exit at the hands of Brighton based side Whitehawk.

“Not only did we crash out of the FA Cup, which obviously has financial implications for the club as well as the little bit of the glory and it puts you in the public eye, it’s the way we went out. We’ve beaten ourselves, which was the most frustrating thing.”

Nott added: “We started well and went 1-0 up, deservedly, and had a perfect goal ruled out, which we’ve seen on the highlights (on the FA website). That would have put us 2-0 up and cruising. Then we lost concentration and we had a lazy spell just before half-time and conceded a goal.

“We came out in the second half and we looked in control of our own destiny and then we just throw it away with two ridiculous sending off’s but both players had to go.”

Nott blasted both Adam Marsh and James Peacock for picking up red cards.

“Both players know exactly how I feel and they’ve let, not only themselves down, the club and the supporters down and after that we had an uphill battle and we lost 3-1.

“Andy Walker (my goalkeeper) was the first one to come in and apologised for his display and he was probably at fault for all three goals.

“Stupid as it seems they didn’t cause us any problems, but we’ve put in a performance that’s beaten ourselves so I was so disappointed and almost destroyed after the game as we’ve not been outplayed - we’ve just killed ourselves.”

The Stones boss demands a positive reaction from his beleaguered side for Saturday’s trip to Kingstonian - a side that are in third place in the Ryman Premier League table with four wins and a draw from six outings - a much better start than last season.

“We’ve had an awful start and we’ve been showing signs of recovery and that seems to have gone by the way as well,” said Nott.

“We really need some character and we had a training session last night and we sat down and had a chat and I said we’ve got ourselves in this mess and the only people that are going to get us out of this is us and I’m looking for those characters to pull us through.

“We’ve signed some good players recently. The likes of Joe Vines (from Sittingbourne) and Peter Hawkins (Tonbridge Angels) can help us through this spell.

“Joe, unfortunately, hasn’t started his three-match suspension yet as he was illegible for the Cup game on Saturday, so that didn’t count as a game.

“We need some characters now. We need to pull together and get us out of this mess. It doesn’t come any tougher than Kingstonian on Saturday, but it will be a good test for the players.

“There’s a lot of hurt, not only the management, the players are hurting now as well,” said Nott.

“We’ve taken a fair amount of criticism within the club over the last week and now I need a reaction and get our season back on track.”

Nott has threatened to wield the axe and revealed that he has made a couple of official approaches to non-contracted players to shake up his squad.

“We’ve got two seven-day approaches in at the moment,” he revealed. “Changes need to be made anyway now. We said to the players a lot have enough chances but we’ve got so many players off their game and when you have a run of results like we have, confidence does get affected and a lot of players kind of thrive on confidence and that’s been a problem for us.

“But I think we need changes and enhance the squad. We have to do that within the budget. That’s been a major factor from day one as we haven’t signed the players we wanted too because of the budget.

“It’s a good test for everyone to prove to people at the club that we can get ourselves through this.”

Nott says his hands are tied when it comes to asking for more money - due to the proposed takeover involving Oliver Ash.

“Two people have to go last week to balance the books for the new signings, Rob Carter and Marc Cleary,” explained Nott.

“It would be nice to have kept them but we are working within restraints. It’s tough but not unmanageable.

“It was a shame (we were knocked out of the FA Cup as) the £3,000 (prize money) would be nice for the club.

“There’s a lot happening at the club with the proposed takeover talks, but we need to put that out of our minds. We’ve had that all summer and that affects the financial side and it’s difficult at the moment as we can’t even discuss an increased budget to assist us because of the takeover talk.

“But I’m very committed to get things back on track. I’ve never experienced a run of bad results before in all the times that I’ve been manager and it’s a test of my character as well. I will certainly not throw the towel in.

“I firmly believe one result will turn our season around. We had that last season when we were struggling. The quicker we pick things up the better for us all.”

Visit Maidstone United’s website: www.maidstoneunited.co.uk

Kingstonian v Maidstone United

Ryman Premier League

Saturday 18th September 2010

Kick Off 3:00pm

At Kingsmeadow Stadium, Jack Goodchild Way, 422a Kingston Road, Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey KT1 3PB