There's so much pressure on my young side, admits Miles - EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

Chatham Town manager Phil Miles has admitted his side are in a precarious position in the bottom four in the Ryman League Division One South table – because he’s been forced to throw kids in at the deep end, writes Stephen McCartney.

 

Only goalkeeper John Whitehouse, skipper Tom Binks and midfielder Steve Best have experience of playing at this level as the rest of the Chatham side are made up of in-experienced youngsters.

Following their 3-1 defeat at local rivals Sittingbourne on Saturday, the Chats are just four points clear of the drop zone and with trips to promotion chasing Maidstone United (Wednesday), Dover Athletic (Saturday) and Dartford (9^th April) on the horizon, Chatham are in a desperate situation.

Miles knows his side must pick up points against Godalming Town, Leatherhead, Horsham YMCA and Molesey to avoid playing Kent League football for the first time since 2001.

Miles’ men return to Bourne Park on Wednesday night to play league leaders Maidstone United.

But a youthful looking Croydon Athletic side held the Stones to a surprise goal-less draw recently and Miles hopes his side can emulate that feat.

“There’s hope,” he said EXCLUSIVELY to www.kentishfootball.co.uk   following their defeat to the Brickies.

“When you’ve got inexperience you’ve got the enthusiasm and the energetic way they play so hopefully that should carry us through.

“For the last six weeks I’ve relied on some of my better reserve players to come in and do what experienced players at Maidstone are doing week in, week out.

“It’s difficult for the youngsters to come through because they’re coming into a struggling side and I’m asking them to come in and be world beaters.

“But it’s difficult because they’re coming in and there’s so much pressure on their shoulders.”

And with so much in-experience within the side, Miles complains about the lack of consistency.

“These players will get better,” he said.  “The experience will be good for them but I’m asking them to come in and be world beaters.

“One week they can play well but one week can play awful and there’s no fine line between us.

“One week I’d say “but we were fantastic, I’m proud of every single one of them” but the next week I could be, like I am today, upset with my players because they can play better than that.

“I’ve got these youngsters but they’re not bad players and in two or three years time they’re going to be ready on a weekly basis but at the moment they are all still learning the game.

“Some of them have come from Kent League Division Two reserves and they’ve come straight into the Ryman, playing against players that have played professional football.”

Miles admitted it will be tough to bring in players before the transfer deadline at the end of this month.

He said: “It feels I’ve been in the transfer market all season to be honest.

“It’s where we’ve been so inconsistent I’ve been thinking I need to bring fresh faces in and try and change things and to be fair it’s worked but it’s not worked for long periods of time.

“It’s worked for short, sharp, first two or three games we’ve done well, then we seem to drop back.

“We need an out-and-out forward whose going to score goals basically but it’s just trying to attract the players to the club with the position that we’re in.

“If I don’t get anyone else to the club I’m sure that the players we’ve got will be ok.

“But it might go to the wire then we’ll have to stand up and be counted.

“I don’t want it to go to the wire.  I’d rather have a few games spare so we can plan for the future because at the moment we can’t really plan for the future because we don’t know where that’s going to take us.

"I’ve got enough in the squad to stay up but we just need to show that on a more regular basis.”

Visit club websites:

www.maidstoneunited.co.uk

www.chathamtownfc.net

Maidstone United  v  Chatham Town
Ryman League Division One South
Wednesday 28^th March 2007
Kick Off 7:45pm
at Bourne Park, Central Park, Eurolink, Sittingbourne, ME10 3SB