We’re not going to break the bank to pay the money to gamble on the club’s future so we’ve got to do it from within, says Ramsgate joint-manager Danny Ward

RAMSGATE joint-manager Danny Ward says his side cannot cope with the congested fixture list before Christmas.

The Rams have played 28 games in all competitions and play another six in December and Ward believes such a gruelling schedule is tough on footballers who have to work for a living as well as play their football in the Ryman League Division One South.

Ramsgate welcome Corinthian-Casuals on Saturday before they have a rare midweek off.

“It will be good to get a week off, we’ve got next week off,” said Ward.

“We need that at our level. It’s unfair on clubs with small budgets and small squads that have got to play every Saturday and Tuesday, it’s just not fair! Everyone should have at least one midweek off as far as I’m concerned.

“We’ve played 22 league games so we’ve got to 33 games (in all competitions) played before the New Year, it doesn’t take a lot of working out, does it?

“They keep on moaning about the teams the teams put out in the League Cup. I said this last year when we were higher up the table, if they delay the League Cup until next year and people are out of The FA Cup, The FA Trophy, out of the Kent Cup say, then they’ll put their full side out.  The League Cup, at the moment, takes less priority and we’ve won it before and we want to win it again.

“You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do. We’ve not got a midweek game next week then we play Folkestone in the Kent Cup, thanks for that!  This is a bit of a bug bear of mine.”

Ramsgate are looking over their shoulders at the relegation zone after going down to a 3-1 defeat at Greenwich Borough on a frosty night in Eltham on Tuesday night.

Aaron Millbank gave the Rams a ninth minute lead to score his sixth goal of the season, but Greenwich Borough claimed the points with three first half goals, scored from Glenn Wilson, Michael Power and Oliver Gray’s own-goal – but Ramsgate put in a good performance.

Ramsgate have collected 22 points from as many games and find themselves in the bottom eight – six points clear of the relegation zone.

Corinthian-Casuals come to Southwood Stadium on Saturday, sitting in the top five.

“They’re a very surprise package. If we play like we can play, I expect to win,” said Ward.

“We’ve got to give it everything we’ve got. We do that, we’ll win the game but we’ve got to give everything that we’ve got! 

“There’s no point coming to Greenwich Borough and give a good performance and get beat then not giving a good account on Saturday.

“The league never lies, you’re where you deserve to be and they’re up in the play-off positions at the moment and doing ever so well.

“We deserved to get something up there (Corinthian-Casuals). We got beat by a scrappy goal in the last five minutes in a game that we dominated, but hopefully we can pay them back on Saturday.”

Ward admits to feeling “frustrated” with the club’s league position but Ramsgate have fielded a young side this season owing to budget restraints.

“Very disappointing with that, we’ve actually played better against the top teams than we did against the bottom teams so it’s frustrating at the moment,” said Ward.

“But with a young squad with one of the lowest budgets in the league and you get what you get with them - but we’re alright!

“When we get our players back; Kane Smith; Jake McKenzie; Tom Loynes; George Crimmen, we’ll be fine and that’s all we have to do.

“The league never lies, we’re disappointed with some of the games but happy with some of the other games but we’re alright.

“This will come good. It’s disappointing to look down the league but a couple of wins gets us up in the top 10. We’re not getting stuffed by anybody but we’re not picking up enough points but we’ll go again this week and see what happens.”

Reflecting on the club’s youth policy at first team level, Ward said: “We are what we are.  You look at the money some of the clubs are paying in this league, these (Greenwich Borough) being one of them, only two teams get promoted. We’re alright, but we have to get through this little spell.

“If we can keep the squad of players together for the next two years and we’ve had games at this level, I think we can be whatever we want to be.

“Clubs like Ramsgate, as you know, it’s a difficult place to get to. To get people to come you’ve got to pay the money. Well, we haven’t got the money to do it and we’re not going to break the bank to pay the money to gamble on the club’s future so we’ve got to do it from within.”

Visit Ramsgate’s website: www.ramsgate-fc.co.uk

Ramsgate  v  Corinthian-Casuals
Ryman League Division One South
Saturday 3^rd December 2016
Kick Off 3:00pm
at Southwood Stadium, Prices Avenue, Ramsgate, Kent CT11 0AN