We have to be in a position to go up, says Lydd Town boss Dave Smith

LYDD TOWN boss Dave Smith says the club are awaiting funding from The Football Association so they can install floodlighting at their ground which will aid their promotion push.


The Lydders finished in sixth-place in the Kent Invicta League last season and begin their new season with a home game against Meridian VP on Saturday afternoon.

Smith says his side are going into the new season firing on all cylinders and are ready to face the Charlton-based outfit.

Reflecting on pre-season, Smith said: “It’s been ok actually. We’ve played some decent sides. We’ve played Hythe Town, Deal Town, Beckenham and Cray Wanderers and Bromley Green as well.  The only game we lost was to Cray Wanderers, who are a good side. We’ve got draws against Hythe, Deal and Beckenham and beat Bromley Green so overall it’s been quite good actually.”

Smith added: “We’ve trained twice a week. We’ve been doing sessions in the gym on one day, spinning classes and stuff like that and we’ve been doing our normal training the second day of the week and it seems to work quite well. The players have looked quite fit during the games so it’s been a useful pre-season actually.”

Smith wants to get their campaign off to a winning start against perennial strugglers Meridian VP.

“If we were looking at the sides who we could play, we would have plumed for someone like Meridian at home first off,” said Smith.

“Meridian are a strange side. Some weeks they have a good team, other weeks they have a poor side and their results fluctuate.

“We’ll definitely not taking anything for granted but we’ll certainly be looking for three points from our first game because our next two are Hollands & Blair and Bearsted away.

“We know we have to get off to a good start on Saturday and then we’ve got two tough games coming up as well on paper.”

When asked what his club’s aspirations are, the former Bromley Green manager said: “We came sixth last year in the league and got to a cup final. I just want to improve on sixth-place in the league really and if you improve on sixth-place and get above that you’re in with a shout for the title.

“If you’re in the top five, four, three, two, one is not too far away.

“If we improve on sixth, I should think we will be up there challenging.

“I’d like to aim for the top three minimum really, which will show improvement. I’m not going to say we’re going to win it because I’m not like that. I just want us to show an improvement as we build in the Kent Invicta League.”

Kent Invicta League clubs were given five years’ to get their facilities up to scratch and Lydd Town are making progress as they enter their third year.

“Our floodlight application has been put in to The FA, so all the quotes have been done and all the leg work, which is quite time consuming, have all been done,” revealed Smith.

“From what I understand from club officials we’re waiting to hear back for a grant from The FA and once we get the go-ahead the lights will be going up during this season so hopefully come the start of next season we will be in a position to get promoted.”

The Kent Invicta League promoted two clubs last season, champions Phoenix Sports and third-placed Ashford United.

They lost Woodstock Park, who withdrew from the league owing to Ryman League Sittingbourne moving into the ground.

Glebe have come in via the backdoor, sharing at Holmesdale’s Oakley Road ground in Bromley and Fleet Leisure have come up from the Haart of Kent County League and Fleet Leisure were promoted from the Haart of Kent County League, so the Kent Invicta League will run with only fifteen clubs this season.

“I would be very disappointed if we’d got in the position of being asked to get promoted and we couldn’t – I’ve been there and done that with Bromley Green and it kills a side,” added Smith.

“I’m 100% confident the club would have everything in place for the possibility of going up next season or whenever it happens.

“If we don’t get in a position to go up then we’ve still got excellent facilities that will be improved with lights and a small stand.

“We’re waiting on The FA at the moment if we get the green light and I can’t really see why we can’t.

“We’re one of the few clubs left who aren’t groundsharing. I think they should back the clubs that don’t groundshare to get the facilities up to scratch.

“As we saw last year, it’s not always about winning the league. It’s being in a position to be offered a chance to go up, like Ashford.

“The Kent League, or whatever it’s called, the Southern Counties East Football League, is still three teams short so maybe there will be other teams it will be offered to that don’t win the league just to boost the numbers. I’d like to think if we’re in the top three we could be offered promotion because we’ve got the facilities in place, which would be a bonus.

“I wouldn’t make no gripes about going up whether we won it or not. The aims of the club is to be in the Kent League (the Southern Counties East Football League) and that’s where we want to be.”

Smith knows his side cannot afford to slip up because they will only play 28 league games this season.

“It’s very strange how they took two sides out of our league and made it one less when there’s other sides trying to get in to our league wanting to come and they’re making the cup competition two legs which is another weird event.

“It’s a very strange league. The sides vary so much. You play sides and they’re really good and then they get hammered by someone that they should beat easily.

“There’s a lot of movement around these sides, especially in the London based clubs. It will take five or six weeks to see who will get a good squad together, whose doing well. There’s rumours about Rusthall and Bridon Ropes but until its up and running and settled down…

“We need to get off to a decent start ourselves and not worry about anyone else and concentrate getting as many points early doors and we can head to the top as soon as we can and try to hold on what we’ve got.”

Meanwhile, Lydd Town will be without Barrington Beaney (holiday), Ryan Smith (suspension) and Ryan Norman (work commitments) for Saturday’s opener.

Visit Lydd Town’s website: www.lyddtownfc.co.uk

Lydd Town  v  Meridian VP
Kent Invicta League
Saturday 10^th August 2013
Kick Off 3:00pm
At The Lindsey Field, Dengemarsh Road, Lydd, Kent TN29 9JH