Relegation battle is going down to the wire, says Lovell

Thursday 25th March 2010

ASHFORD TOWN go into a make or break week in their survival bid at the bottom of Ryman One South this weekend with a trip round the M25 to face Godalming Town, with the spectre of the huge Monday night Kent derby relegation six pointer against Whitstable Town looming large on the Homelands horizon, writes Mike Green.

Speaking to www.kentishfootball.co.uk after his sides midweek draw with Chipstead, boss Steve Lovell admitted, “Wednesday was the story of our season – we controlled most of the game yet we got pegged back late on. But our performance was better than it was last weekend when we lost at home to Burgess Hill particularly in the second half and so now I’ve got to see who’s fit enough for Saturday’s trip to Godalming.”

With all the problems that there have been at Homelands this season, Lovell is now faced with a fixture backlog that is likely to stretch his already stretched squad to breaking point.

“We’ve 8 games in fourteen days after Saturday, which is ridiculous and I really don’t know why they couldn’t have extended the season,” a bemused manager said.

“ But everyone’s in the same boat with games called off, so we’ll have to deal with it and hopefully we’ll have the players to do it.”

With the bottom almost as tight as it is at the other end of the table, Ashford are now facing a succession of six pointers.

“It was important that we didn’t lose on Wednesday after Whitstable won on Tuesday but there are still four or five teams involved down at the bottom. The other teams thought have lost around us which makes it just as tight and I’m sure that its going to go to the wire, and hopefully we’ll be able to come out the other side.” Lovell said.

Looking ahead to his trip round to Surrey, Lovell commented, “We’ve a very difficult game on Saturday – I’ll have to mix it up again with so many games coming up. I think we’ll have to play a few youngsters at the weekend – I have to because of the injuries that we’ve taken tonight, and those that we’re carrying already. I dare not play players who aren’t fit as it would finish their seasons as the next three weeks or so are so important – so I have to protect some of the players.”

Recently in the professional games managers have been accused of rotating their sides to make sure that their best players are almost “cherry picked” – made certain that they’re fit for certain “big” games.

Smiling Lovell said, “I’d like to have the players to pick and choose the games that we prioritise to get points but we’re not like these Premiership clubs who have got 26 odd players. I’ve got 16 or 17 players – I would love to be in that position but there’s going to be a lot of the boys who played Wednesday night who are going to have to play Saturday, Monday, Wednesday and Saturday again.

“So I’ve got to look at our squad to see who can do that and who cant, and those who need to be pulled out for one or two games will have to be. I think we’ll have to take two or three of the reserves with us on Saturday but I’d be lying if I said Monday wasn’t the biggest game for us!”

The treatment table at Homelands has been working overtime of late and it looks as if this week will be no different as Lovell revealed that, “Danny Lye’s hamstring has gone again which is huge blow as he’s been massive for us over the last three or four games; Tom Murphy missed out Wednesday and I’m hoping he’ll be involved Saturday but Carl Harrold picked up an injury midweek so we’ll have to see what we’ve got once we’ve dusted ourselves down. As long as we’ve got eleven players to put the shirt on come 3:00pm Saturday afternoon, we’ll be all right!"

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

Godalming Town v Ashford Town

Ryman League Division One South

Saturday 27th March 2010

Kick Off 3:00pm

At Wey Court, Mead Row, Godalming, Surrey GU7 3JE