We're a couple years into our five-year plan to get into the Kent League, says Piggott

Sunday 13th December 2009

HOLLANDS & BLAIR manager Paul Piggott says the Gillingham based club are halfway through their five-year plan to progress into the Bulmers Cider Kent League, writes Stephen McCartney.

Blair will travel to Kent League superpowers Hythe Town or Faversham Town (who will hopefully meet at Reachfields Stadium on Tuesday night) in the quarter-finals of the Kent Senior Trophy next month, after eighteen-year-old goalkeeper Lewis Flisher produced heroics to beat Erith & Belvedere 3-1 on penalties, after the game finished 3-3 after extra time.

Piggott, who has previous Kent League managerial experience with Lordswood, took over the reigns from Mick Moran, who guided the club to a Vandanel Kent County League treble last season, and the club are presently five points adrift of league leaders Stansfeld Oxford & Bermondsey Club (with one game in hand).

“That’s what we’re trying to do, to get into the Kent League,” Piggott told www.kentishfootball.co.uk, following his side’s heroic display at Park View Road on Friday night.

“The club’s trying hard, it’s hard financially, but we’re trying but these (Erith & Belvedere’s Park View Road) are the places where we want to go and play.”

When asked the scale of improvements to be made at their Star Meadow ground, based at Darland Avenue in Gillingham, Piggott replied, “We’ve got new changing room’s being built soon and the ground being tarted up to get us there.

“The floodlights (which clubs must have to play Bulmers Cider Kent League football) are a bit of a doubt at the moment.

“We’ve got plans in motion, the club have got a five-year plan to get into the Kent League and they’re a couple years into it, so we’re trying to get it right on the field and we’re trying to get it right off the field.”

Piggott added: “We’re not going to kid ourselves, we know the Kent League is a hard league to play in, it’s a tough, physical league to play in.

“This is what we want to be apart of, this is where we want to be. We want to be going to places like this.

“If we keep working hard, hopefully we’ll be doing that.”

Piggott admits that filling Moran’s boots will be tough, considering the club clinched the Vandanel Kent County League title, Kent Intermediate Shield and the Inter-Regional Cup, last season.

He said: “It’s a great club. I know a lot of people at the club and they’re hard workers and what the club’s achieved last year is down to three or four years hard graft and it’s my job to carry that on through and we’ll be trying that.

“It’s not going to be easy, because if you win the County League, it doesn’t mean you’re going to be successful in another league but we will make sure we’ll be ready when we do go in there and we’ll conduct ourselves in the right way.”

Visit Hollands & Blair’s website : www.hollandsandblair.co.uk