This season has been a roller-coaster with ups and downs, reflects Chatham Town boss Kevin Watson

CHATHAM TOWN manager Kevin Watson says he is placing no expectations on his side for the remainder of the season, writes Stephen McCartney.


The Medway outfit lie slap bang in the middle of the Ryman League Division One North table with 30 points from 21 games and travel to play their sole Kent rivals Thamesmead Town in their next game next Tuesday before travelling to Harlow Town on New Years’ Eve (1:00pm) and then welcoming Tilbury to Maidstone Road on Monday, 2 January 2012.

Reflecting on the season so far, Watson said: “It’s been a bit of a roller-coaster if I’m honest. I think we’ve experienced the ups and downs, which is good in some ways because hopefully the back end of the season there won’t be any surprises to equip ourselves with.”

He added: “I’ve always said we haven’t got a great deal of expectations on us, which I can only see as a plus. 

“Obviously I don’t think any manager, or player, or team, or club will want to settle for average or below average.  I think you have to have aspirations but we’re realistic with what we can or can’t achieve with our resources available to us.”

When asked whether the Chatham Town job is challenging, Watson replied, “I think every job in football is challenging.  I wouldn’t say mine is more challenging than anybody else’s but I think I’m quite fortunate with the support I’ve got .

“We’ve got a good management team and everybody’s pulling in the right direction in terms of the club, so I think it’s going well as it can in terms of me being able to manage it.

“Everybody would like more resources available to them but I knew the situation when I took the job and you just work with what you’ve got.  By no means that’s me trying to talk this down in any way as we’re in a lot healthier situation than a lot of other clubs in terms of stability.

“It’s ok where we are at the minute.  It gives us a good foundation to build on.”

Their game at Thamesmead is their only league away fixture that doesn’t involve crossing the Dartford Tunnel/Bridge.

“It’s a tough place to go,” said Watson, ahead of the derby at Bayliss Avenue.

“It will be difficult for us.  The style of football we play.  I was down there a couple of weeks ago and the pitch is usually quite decent but it looked quite heavy.  

“There is a little bit more edge on it because it’s as close as it gets for a local derby but there’s an edge on a lot of games when we play teams who are above us or below us.”

Keith McMahon’s Thamesmead lie in thirteenth place in the table, just one point adrift of Chatham.

Watson then takes his side to seventh-placed Harlow Town, who are five points adrift of the play-offs, before welcoming sixth-placed Tilbury.

Watson said: “It’s difficult for us to gage there’s no game bigger than any other really, certainly not at this stage of the season.  It’s about getting points on the board for us.

“Later in the season, when you may have some crunch games and it’s taking points of teams in and around you, but I think at this stage of the season, it’s just a focus on us really.

“We beat Harlow very early on and we drew with Tilbury,” recalled Watson.

“Both teams are up there.  I knew Harlow would be very strong this season and that was a very good result when we beat them.

“It will be nice to play Tilbury at home as it’s another difficult place to go to.  We managed to get a draw there, which in the grand scheme of things wasn’t a bad result.

“It will be interesting.  We’ve already played most teams at this stage of the season once so you learn a little bit about each and every one of them. 

“We’re certainly not going to worry too much about teams but I don’t mean that in a disrespectful way but I think we’ve shown we can beat anybody on the day and lose to anybody on the day.”

With Chatham Town eight points adrift of the play-offs, Watson admitted many clubs can chase a top-five finish come the end of the season.

He said: “It would be nice but I do think in that league a lot will change.  There’s not many teams who are out of it as such and are capable of picking up results.  You’ve got to be fearful of most teams to be honest.”

Visit Chatham Town’s website: www.chathamtownfc.net  

Thamesmead Town  v  Chatham Town
Ryman League Division One North
Tuesday 27^th December 2011
Kick Off 3:00pm
at Bayliss Avenue, Thamesmead, London SE28 8NJ