Yes it's a big move, a big investment by the club, but we're hopeful we can go up, says Stansfeld manager Lloyd Bradley

STANSFELD Oxford & Bermondsey Club manager Lloyd Bradley says the club are hopeful of sealing promotion at the end of the season.

The club celebrated winning the Kent Reliance Intermediate Challenge Shield on Saturday night, beating holders and landlords Metrogas 4-0 on a wet night at Phoenix Sports.

Stansfeld are in third-place in the NRG Gym Kent County League Premier Division and have secured a three-year groundshare deal at Glebe’s Foxbury Avenue ground in Chislehurst from next season, replacing Eltham Palace.

Bradley says the club are hopeful to earn the right to win promotion into the Southern Counties East Football League Division One (which will replace the Kent Invicta League after five seasons).

“Yes, it’s a big move, a big investment by the club,” said Bradley, who has now won two trophies in two seasons in charge of the club.

“The sponsors and the committee have been really good to us.  They’ve been very generous and the aim is obviously to try to go in the Kent Invicta League, the Southern Counties East Football League, which is a bigger bonus really.

“The ground is all in place already, it will be a real decent move for us really.

“It will all be about how it pans out at the end of the season with the Kent Invicta, there’s still a lot of stuff still going on in that division but we’re hopeful, that’s all we can say at the moment.

“We have to finish in the top five. It’s about the ground.  We know that’s in place, obviously with Glebe playing there but at the moment we’re in conversations with the Kent Invicta and the Kent County League, as they’re our league.

“We just have to wait and see. We hope it pans out. Hopefully we can go up.”

Stansfeld are nine points adrift of league leaders Faversham Strike Force and three behind Erith 147 Sports with seven league games left to play.

Bradley said: “We want to finish in the top five anyway. I’m hoping to finish higher than just fifth. If we can finish runners-up I think we’ll struggle to win the title this year but it’s possible to finish runners-up, third, then so be it.

“We’re hopeful (of sealing promotion), that’s all I can say. We’re waiting on that.”