We are play-off contenders, says Thamesmead Town boss Keith McMahon

THAMESMEAD TOWN manager Keith McMahon says his side’s team spirit will get them into the Ryman League Division One North play-off’s at the end of the season.



The Mead reached the Ryman League Cup Semi-Finals for the first time in their history after beating Thurrock 4-2 on penalties after a goal-less stalemate after 90 minutes on a freezing cold night at Bayliss Avenue last night.

Goalkeeper Rob Budd saved two penalties, Ashley Probets had his one saved, but Lewis Tozer, Arlie Desanges, Budd and Rob Carter converted theirs to send Thamesmead through.
 
McMahon’s men lie in seventh-place in the table, with 39 points from 21 games, just a point from fifth-placed Potters Bar Town.
 
Thamesmead Town travel to second-from-bottom side Redbridge on Saturday and McMahon wants to bag three points to keep his promotion dream alive.
 
“It’s a hard place to go. The pitch isn’t very good,” he said.
 
“You’ve just got to go and do your job and do the basics when you play sides towards the bottom.
 
“We didn’t play particularly well against Ilford (winning 4-0 at home on Saturday) but we done the basics and won the game.
 
“We’ve got to go there and get a result.  We’ve got to do the basics, defend well and the firepower that we’ve got up front, we are likely to nick one.

”I’ll take a 1-0 win away from home in the league, which will keep up right amongst it with games in hand so we’re looking for a win and then we’ve got Brentwood on Tuesday, which is another big game so that’s the one we’re looking for as well.

”If we come through both of them with six points, we’re going to be sitting pretty.”
 
Brentwood Town are presently sitting in eleventh-place in the table, but have only played sixteen league games, collecting 29 points.
 
Looking forward to their next game at Bayliss Avenue next Tuesday, McMahon said: “They’re midtable with games in hand because they’ve only played sixteen games.

”I went to watch them last week at Thurrock against Romford and they got two goals in injury time.  They’re very good going forward, they’re a good side.  There’s no doubt they’ve got a big budget.  They’ve got a good turnaround of players. 

”They’ve always been in the promotion play-off’s. Their manager comments quite a bit that they’re still got a chance so it’s going to be a tough game for us.

”They’ve got a hell of a lot off games to catch up.  We’ve got a lot of midweek games still but they’ve got loads but we’re going to keep our feet on the floor. 
 
“No one hopefully has taken us too seriously still in amongst the top seven or eight.  Hopefully we can keep winning and nick in there at the end.”


McMahon insists his club are seriously targeting a play-off place and that his players’ precious team spirit will play a major part.
 
“Listen, we’ve won every single game since Boxing Day.  We’ve got a stronger squad this year.  Adding Stuart Zanone (from Kent League side Rochester United) was a big one for us because he’s a goalscorer.  We’ve always been light on numbers.  It takes you time to bed down and what you need and we’ve got that.
 
“All the lads’ are together. We’ve got that little bit of unity. Every department is really working hard for each other and we’re a team that will do anything for each other as well.  That’s a bonus of 9-12 points a year, the way we stick together and go until the end.
 
“We are play-off contenders, definitely, but we’ve just got to win the game on Saturday. We’re not getting carried away. We’ll see where we are at the end of February. If we’re still amongst it with 8-10 games to go we’re in with a shout.
 
“I’ll be disappointed if we finish below seventh or eighth but I personally think we’re playing for one or two play-off positions.
 
“I haven’t given up on the league but you have to when you’re 17 points behind Maldon, who have got to do something drastically wrong not to win it.

”Third, fourth, fifth is possibly up for grabs so we’ve got all the sides to play. They’ve got to play each other and we’ll see how we go.”
 
Visit Thamesmead Town’s website: www.thamesmeadtownfc.co.uk  
 
Redbridge  v  Thamesmead Town
Ryman League Division One North
Saturday 19^th January 2013
Kick Off 3:00pm
At Oakside Stadium, Station Road, Barkingside, Essex IG6 1NB