Knight ready for the calm before the storm

CRAY WANDERERS goalkeeper Glen Knight says his team-mates are all geared up to make it a very happy Easter for manager Ian Jenkins, writes Stephen McCartney.

The Wands welcome Walton Casuals to Hayes Lane on Easter Saturday, before travelling to Kingsmeadow for the title-decider against Kingstonian on Easter Monday.

Walton Casuals arrive in Kent having collected three wins and two draws from their last six outings and are six points clear of the Ryman League Division One South drop zone.

Leaders Kingstonian, meanwhile, travel to Burgess Hill Town on Saturday, a side that are third-from-bottom, just two points clear of the drop zone, and are fighting for their lives to beat the drop.

The Hillians beat Whyteleafe 2-0 at home in their last game, having drawn their previous three league games.

And Knight, speaking to www.kentishfootball.co.uk tonight, says his team-mates are capable of collecting maximum points over the Easter period as they bid to grab the title - and automatic promotion - away from favourites Kingstonian as we enter the exciting final furlong to the season.

But the former Dover Athletic goalkeeper knows a professional job must first be done on Walton Casuals at Hayes Lane on Saturday.

“They’re going well at the moment,” the 34-year-old said of Walton Casuals. “They’ve picked up, in good form and we won’t be underestimating them as we showed on Saturday against Corinthian-Casuals.

“I think Corinthian-Casuals have lost one in six and had recently beaten Met Police and beat Kingstonian 1-0 and we ran out 4-1, which ended up a comfortable win against them - but only because of the way we applied ourselves against them.”

Knight has applied the pre-big match mind games, insisting Kingstonian have it all to lose and that the pressure is all on Alan Dowson and his men.

“If you look back eleven games ago, if you said to us you can go to the last four games and be three points behind Kingstonian, we would have jumped at the chance,” he said.

“I think they should have wrapped the league up a few weeks ago with the advantage they had, but the fact we’ve won nine out of eleven, drew one and lost one, that’s outstanding form.

“We’re playing well, we’re defending really well, the midfield’s been brilliant and been dominating games and the forward line have been working hard and scoring goals.”

But he added, “We’ve got to get three points from our game against Walton Casuals first, which isn’t going to be easy.

“But if we adopt the same attitude and apply ourselves the way we did against Corinthian-Casuals, then hopefully we’ll be ok.”

Knight has first hand experience of playing at Leylands Park at this time of the season, having played there for Dover Athletic.

“Kingstonian’s game against Burgess Hill is a tough, tough game,” he said. “I’ve played at Burgess Hill at this time of the year and it’s an awful pitch.

“Burgess Hill are fighting for their lives, they’re third from bottom and they got a win last week, which has obviously given them a bit of confidence and belief.

“That’s a very difficult game for Kingstonian to go there. If they do slip up and don’t take three points, it heaps a little bit more pressure on them for the game on Monday.”

Knight does not want to taste defeat in any of his two games over the Easter period, but he insists his experienced team-mates will be able to handle such pressure.

Home fans are likely to fall silent if the away side perform well - or are winning - as was the case when Ashford Town and Sittingbourne won at Kingsmeadow earlier in the season.

And Knight said: “We’ve got experience right through the side, it’s not just at the back, we’ve got it right through the team and on the bench as well.

“The experience we’ve got will hopefully stand us in good stead.

“It’s down to them to lose it really. It’s a massive, massive game and I’m sure if Kingstonian win it they will think they will go on to win the league and we’ll pretty much (feel the same) if we win it, especially with the two games remaining.

“Without being disrespectful to anybody, we’ve got Crowborough (away), who have already been relegated a few weeks ago, and then we go into our last home game against Eastbourne Town - we’ll be looking to get three points (in each game)." 

Kingstonian end their campaign with a home game against Craig Edwards’ Dulwich Hamlet and then a trip to Ashford Town on the final day of the season.

And Knight says he will be sending plenty of text messages to his former Dover Athletic team-mates that are currently playing for Steve Lovell at Homelands.

“Even though Dulwich haven’t got anything to play for, knowing Craig Edwards, there’s no way he’d ever let any of his teams lie down and die,” said Knight.

“I know players at Ashford and they’ve been around a long time and they won’t let Kingstonian come to their own ground on the last game of the season and take three points of them.”

But the promotion - and play-off places - will go right down to the last kick of the season, as Jenkins and his assistant, Joe Francis - and other managers - predicted many months ago.

“To be fair to Jenko and Joe have said all season it will go right the way to the end and be tight,” said the Essex based stopper.

“Seven weeks ago, I think it was, Kingstonian were nine points ahead of us with four games in hand and now it’s level on games and they’re three points ahead of us.

“At one stage they could have gone 21 points above us, they’ve had a major wobble and we’ve had a good run of form.”

“We got to a stage about 11-12 games ago when we realised, I don’t think we done ourselves justice throughout the course of the season. We done alright, but with the squad we have, we should have done better.

“Everyone’s really confident and playing well and we go into this game knowing the pressure’s on them, especially (in front of) their own fans.

“The longer it goes and the tighter it is, their fans and players will get anxious and that shows with their recent results, they drew at home to Whitstable, lost to Corinthian-Casuals.

“At home, their form has been indifferent, given the lead that they’ve thrown away, the pressure’s definitely on them!”

www.kentishfootball.co.uk and BBC Radio Kent will be providing coverage of Cray Wanderers' trip to Kingstonian on Easter Monday.

Mike Green will be providing updates on 96.7fm or 104.2fm - or you can listen live on www.bbc.co.uk/kent

Kingstonian, meanwhile, are offering youngsters free admission for their game against Cray Wanderers, which kick’s off at 3pm.

Free tickets will be issued on the turnstiles for under 16s, providing proof of age and under 11s, accompanied by an adult.

“This has been a very exciting season so far and we think it’s a perfect opportunity to encourage as many youngsters as possible come to see us in action,” added K’s joint-chairman Malcom Winwright, when speaking to www.kingstonian.net

Visit Cray Wanderers’ website: www.craywands.co.uk

Cray Wanderers v Walton Casuals
Ryman League Division One South
Easter Saturday, 11^th April 2009
Kick Off 3:00pm
At Hayes Lane, Bromley, Kent BR2 9EF