Jones wants partisan home support to create FA Cup giant killing

Tuesday 01st September 2009

SEVENOAKS TOWN boss Simon Jones has called upon his twelfth man to help his side create a FA Cup giant killing at Greatness Park tonight, writes Stephen McCartney.

Jones, speaking to www.kentishfootball.co.uk just hours before tonight’s FA Cup preliminary round replay against Dulwich Hamlet, has asked for partisan support against the Ryman League Division One South giants.

“I’d like to think the guys and girls who turned up and watched on Saturday came away pleased with what we put on,” he said.

“So far this year we’ve had some exciting games at Greatness. From my point of view the more people that get down there the better the atmosphere and they will play a huge part in helping us getting through this tie if we’re going to get through this tie tonight. They are going to be out twelfth man.”

Jones, however, admitted that his side grabbed a 1-1 draw at Champion Hill on Saturday and that his side’s all-round performance must improve tonight.

“Saturday was a mixed bag for us, I must admit,” he said. “I think we didn’t quite perform the way I’d like us to perform in the first half.

“I think the occasion got the better of us to start off with and we gave them a lot of time on the ball and a lot of possession and I think we struggled to compete a little bit.

“But just as when I thought we had actually weathered the storm and seemed to be making play predictable, as you always want to do, they then got a good slice of luck, created themselves a very good goal to take the lead, which is a shame as I thought we had the storm weathered.”

Speaking about Joe Creasey’s leveller, Jones added, “It would have probably been against the run of play. Joe’s hit one from 40-yards beat the keeper all ends up, it’s ricocheted off the crossbar, which was an unbelievable effort.

“If I was a neutral, I would have said that was really hard luck on Dulwich.”

But Jones wants his side to replicate the good points that they showed in south London at the weekend to book their place into the next round.

“The second half was a lot more of an even affair,” Jones reflected. “We competed and I thought we did some good things on the ball.

“The way we finished I thought there was going to be one team in it at that stage. Dulwich ran out of legs and we seemed to be getting stronger and stronger.

“Their keeper pulled off a world class save in the last four or five minutes from Joe Creasey. We would have walked out of there with a win, a little undeserved, but it would have still be a win!”

Tonight’s game will be the Kent League club’s fourth FA Cup tie, as they needed a replay to see of their Kent League rivals, bogey side, Tunbridge Wells.

“All I’m hoping for is the same as we did against Tunbridge Wells,” added Jones. “I think we worked hard, the ball and the pitch played well and the guys put in a good, strong, positive performance.

“Although we did put on a good performance, we started slow against Tunbridge Wells, so I hope we’ll fix that a little bit.”

Jones believes Gavin Rose and his Hamlet side will enjoy playing at Greatness Park, insisting that Sevenoaks will not hold the advantage being on home soil.

He said: “The Dulwich guys will like Greatness Park, it’s big, long and wide and it will give them - and us - the space to play.

“They will come down to our patch but I think it’s going to be a very similar surface to what they’ve been playing on at Champion Hill so I don’t see home advantage being a huge advantage in this one.

“Hopefully a partisan crowd will make them think a little bit.

“But you look at how Dulwich have been playing in their away performances, they have been their better performances.”

When asked how his side will pull off a giant killing, other than scoring the most goals, Jones replied, “I think we have to look at what we did well on Saturday, how we put them under pressure, how we caused them problems in the second half - the things that we did well on Saturday.

“There’s a number of things we did very well when we got the ball forward and into the box. We put pressure in their final third and I thought we did that very well.

“It’s an old saying, if you’re playing football in and around their box, we’ve got a better chance of winning than if we’re playing in our end of the pitch.

“In the second half (at Champion Hill) we played a lot more in dangerous territories for them to defend, where as in the first half the ball was played in areas where we had to defend.”

Jones, meanwhile, kept his team selection close to his chest, to ensure his opposite number didn’t hold the advantage going into the game.

www.kentishfootball.co.uk will be covering this game.

Visit Sevenoaks Town’s website: www.sevenoakstownfc.org

Sevenoaks Town v Dulwich Hamlet

FA Cup (Sponsored by E.ON) Preliminary Round Replay

Tuesday 1st September 2009

Kick Off 7:30pm

At Greatness Park, Mill Lane, Seal Road, Sevenoaks, Kent