Promotion race will go right to the wire, says Lovell

ASHFORD TOWN manager Steve Lovell says the Ryman League Division One South title race will go right down to the wire, writes Stephen McCartney.

A run of five successive league wins, in an unbeaten league run of ten, has seen the Nuts & Bolts climb the table in recent weeks, and Saturday’s 1-0 home win, in front of the division’s largest crowd of the season, over local rivals Folkestone Invicta, has put the club in the thick of it.

Lovell’s men are now fourth in the table and are one of three Kent sides in the play-off positions, and although they are only five points behind leaders Kingstonian, they have played three more games.

But Ashford Town travel to the KRBS Belmont on Saturday to play a Whitstable Town side that are struggling in the bottom four, due to inconsistency, and are only three points clear of the drop zone.

But Lovell, speaking to www.kentishfootball.co.uk, hopes his side continues their push towards promotion in their last remaining eighteen games.

“The next six to eight games are crucial regarding (where) most of the teams will end up at the end of the year,” said Lovell. “But I think the league title and play-off positions will go right to the end.

“They’ve all got to play against each other and I think the points will even itself out and I think it will go to the last game of the season to decide anything.”

Lovell admitted he doesn’t even know how many points his side need to pick up from their last 18 games to either win the title or qualify for the end of season play-off lottery.

“I think every year the league changes,” he said. “Teams change and performances change and a different amount of points each year determines the position and it will be the same this year.

“It will be a lot tighter this year. You can’t give a points target because you might get to that target and it might not be good enough.

“You have to approach each game as it comes and do your best between now and the end of the season the most consistent teams will deserve to win the title and get into the play-off’s.”

Visit Ashford Town’s website:  www.ashfordtownfc.co.uk

Visit Whitstable Town's website: www.whitstabletownfc.co.uk

Whitstable Town v Ashford Town
Ryman League Division One South
Saturday 3^rd January 2009
Kick Off 3:00pm
At KRBS Belmont Ground, Belmont Road, Whitstable, Kent CT5 1QP