We hope to reignite Rob Denness' enthusiasm for the game, says Corinthian coach Matt Longhurst

CORINTHIAN coach Matt Longhurst says he wants his side to improve on last season’s top-seven finish in the Kent League.



The Gay Dawn Farm outfit enjoyed a decent season last season, which also included reaching the Kent League Cup Final for the very first time, although any chance of lifting silverware was scuppered by James Duckworth, who scored two goals as VCD Athletic beat them 2-0 at Cray Valley (Paper Mills) ground in Eltham.

Corinthian welcomed Richard Brady’s Leatherhead to Fawkham yesterday, going down to a 3-1 defeat against the Surrey side, who suffered relegation from the Ryman Premier League last season.

Longhurst said: “After last week’s opening pre-season game against Crockenhill, where we gave a few trialists’ game time to cast our eye.  This week we knew a much tougher test lay in waiting with Leatherhead, having just come down from the Ryman Premier and retaining pretty much all of last season’s squad.  It was always going to be a tough test for our young side.

“We started brightly for the opening 30 minutes and were the better side. I believe that too and went 1-0 up through Ryan Johnson after good work from James Hawkins.

“We were in good possession of the ball and Leatherhead rarely threatened the goal for the back four. However, after a bad mistake from our young trialist goalkeeper the game firmly swung the other way and after equalising, Leatherhead soon got on the front foot and stopped us playing.

“We showed a lot of naivety, not really getting out of our own half by playing too many short passes and not stretching the game.

“In fairness, Richard Brady got them squeezed into us and we lacked the knowledge on the pitch to get out for a while.

“Having said that two more individual mistakes proved costly and we went in 3-1 down at half-time with the players a little shell shocked after starting so well.”

Longhurst added: “We were going to change eight players at half-time but chose to let the eleven out there get a little more confidence back before changing it.

“The second half was a little flat.  Leatherhead, I’d say, had their fair share of possession and as they should and controlled the game at times, but with lots of changes and a sixteen-year-old coming on midway through the half from the under 18’s we finished losing the game 3-1.

“Forty minutes overall out of 90 was some excellent football at times. The rest, so-so, but that’s to be expected at this moment in time bedding new players in to the system and it being pre-season.”

Reflecting on pre-season so far, Longhurst said: “Training has gone excellently since we’ve been back and the attitude amongst all the players has been brilliant.

“After a fairly good season finishing seventh and reaching the Cup Final we all sat down at the end of last season looking at areas we could improve on and the goals for column was a big must in terms of improvement if we wanted to progress, still remaining within the Corinthian framework.”

Corinthian have brought in former Chatham Town, Ashford Town and Lordswood striker Rob Denness, who bagged the only goal of the game in their opening friendly, a win over Kent Invicta League side Crockenhill eight days’ ago.

Longhurst said: “We look to progress from within first and obviously we don’t have a playing budget so the attraction to players is good coaching, great facilities and doing things the right way.

“All the players’ have training kit and Lucozade is supplied during and after each training session and decent equipment, organised sessions with a ball with a purpose.

“Travel on a coach to and from games without cost are all things that can stand us out from the crowd without a playing budget.

“That has helped us bring in Rob Denness from Chatham Town, hoping to reignite his enthusiasm for the game and push on again.  He had plenty of other offers but chose us as the place to progress to better things.

“We’ve also brought in exciting wide player James Hawkins from Erith Town where he played a big part in their season last year.  They’re two players we hope will give us an edge up front this season.

“We’ve retained Adam Marsh, Lee Barnett and Alfie May as well as Ryan Johnson, hopefully we will be able to push on from last year.

“We’ve also beefed the squad up with some young lads, 18 and 19 year-olds from Dartford’s Academy, giving the opportunity to get some senior football under their belts.

“With retaining all of last season’s squad, adding one or two strong signings and a few younger lads to push to get into the side, we should have competition for places – something we lacked last season.”

Corinthian welcome Ryman Premier League side Margate to Gay Dawn Farm on Tuesday night.

Longhurst is looking forward to playing against Chris Kinnear’s side, who open their pre-season campaign against the Kent League outfit.

Longhurst said: “Next we have Margate, which will be even tougher but fitness wise we will see where we’re at as they will be one of the fittest sides we face all year.

“Knowing the manager and coach and several players there as well, this again will be minutes on the pitch, testing our young lads against quality opposition before we play South Park at home on Saturday, where we hope to start to settle the squad down and see where we’re at.

“I must say this group of players are a pleasure to work with and some of the young lads here have really bright futures in the game and hopefully the failure Saturday is another step to succeeding for us as a squad.”

Margate then travel to Erith & Belvedere – last season’s Kent League runners-up – next Saturday and then on to Whitstable Town on 24 July.

Erith & Belvedere have opened their pre-season campaign with wins over lower league opposition.

The Deres began with a 3-0 win over Warlingham and then they defeated Kent Invicta League side Rusthall 3-1 yesterday, courtesy of goals from Carl Cornell and Drew Crush – their two summer signings from Tunbridge Wells – and striker Andy Constable.

Visit Corinthian’s website: www.corinthiansportsclub.co.uk

Corinthian  v  Margate
Pre-Season Friendly
Tuesday 17^th July 2012
Kick Off 7:45pm
at Gay Dawn Farm, Valley Road, Longfield, Kent DA3 8LY