Kentish Football 
We live within our means, insists Faversham Town boss Justin Luchford
Monday 31st January 2011
FAVERSHAM TOWN boss Justin Luchford says the club has so much money he is going to treat his players to a holiday in Antigua, writes Stephen McCartney.
But before The Lilywhites’ players start booking time off work to make their holiday plans, Luchford was only joking and rubbishing claims from Sittingbourne manager Gary Abbott that the Salters Lane club are loaded with cash.
Speaking on the eve of the Bourne Park clash, Luchford said: “I’ve seen the report from their manager has done on your website. I would be surprised if he doesn’t get invited down to the Mayor’s Chambers in Sittingbourne because I think committing to the club is almost heroic, it’s testament to his character
“I mean it’s a big game. Having a game this week is a bit of a problem with us as obviously me and the management team are busy tonight writing down all the players we want to nick from other clubs.
“A lot of the players, at the moment, are trying to get time off work for our all-expenses paid trip to Antigua at the end of the year so there’s a lot to be done.”
Luchford added: “But we’ve got these bags of money and the players will come in next week looking for their bonuses and their pay-rises as obviously we’ve got so much with promotions. We’ve got plenty of money and we’re banding it around and hopefully we can have the next five home games with everyone coming in for free as well.”
Despite Luchford giving the quote of the season, the Faversham boss added: “Of course I’m joking!
“Back in the real world that is Faversham Town and the fact that we keep within our means, it’s a tough game tomorrow. They go in as favourites as I’ve always said they’re an established Ryman League side, we‘re still learning.
“They’ve been around the top six for a long, long time so all credit to them for that. They’ve lost a couple of players but that doesn’t change the whole team’s dynamics so we will go there tomorrow night and we’ll give it our best shot as we do every game.
“It’s tough. Whoever wins will get the bragging rights but to us it’s just another game and we will concentrate to going out there and doing our job.”
Luchford praised his players for coming away from Fleet Town with a point at the weekend, courtesy of a late strike from skipper Tom Hickman.
“It was a point gained rather than two points dropped,” admitted the boss, who guided the club out of the Kent League by securing the double last season.
“We had Dane Luchford, Damian Abel and Shane Hamshare all missing and I only had two fit substitutes so is was important to come away with at least getting something, not getting a loss.
“We started brightly but they got the goal just before half-time. We just had a chat at half-time and said we know we had a couple of players playing with injuries as well as the ones that were missing so we had to stay mentally strong and dig out something. We could have nicked something at the end but I think a draw was a fair result.”
Luchford added: “It’s a long way to go for us, it’s one of our longest journey’s. We lost in the FA Cup down there as well so that might have played on a couple of players’ minds a little but.
“But when you’re kicking up the slope first half they’re always going to put the pressure on. We dug deep and they didn’t create too many clear cut chances so I was delighted with the point at the end and the lads were as well.
“It was a tough one and we’ve got it out of the way and we came back down the motorway with a point.”
Faversham arrive at Bourne Park sitting in seventh place with 39 points from 26 games, three points above Gary Abbott’s Sittingbourne side who have played a game more. The Brickies suffered a 4-0 home defeat to Worthing at the weekend, but when asked about his side reaching the play-off’s, Luchford is still keeping the pressure off his side.
“At the end of the day it’s irrelevant how close we are,” he said. “It’s 50 points, we’re on 39 and we have to get to 50 as quickly as we possibly can. Once we get there we can look at what else is on offer.
“But like I said to you before, this league is madness! We’ve lost one in fifteen and we could win one in 15 and all off a sudden being sixth-from-bottom and talking about why did we talk about the play-off’s!
“I don’t think anyone will be talking about the play-off’s until such time it’s a possibility.”
Hamshare is available again after missing the trip to Fleet through work commitments, but Dane Luchford and Abel may have fitness tests to see if they’ve shrugged off their hamstring injuries.
Visit Faversham Town’s website: www.favershamtownfc.co.uk
Sittingbourne v Faversham Town
Ryman League Division One South
Tuesday 1st February 2011
Kick Off 7:45pm
At Bourne Park, Central Park Stadium, Eurolink, Church Road, Sittingbourne, Kent ME10 3SB
Red Dragon I.T. Ltd