We're a long way from the finished article, says Ward

Monday 30th November 2009

BRAVE Ramsgate boss Jim Ward pulled off a masterstroke as his side pulled it out of the bag by beating Corinthian-Casuals 3-2 in an extraordinary finish at Southwood Stadium at the weekend, writes Stephen McCartney.

With his side losing 2-1 to the Tolworth based amateurs with only nine minutes remaining, Ward looked to his substitutes bench and threw on 29-year-old goalkeeper Danny Twyman, who replaced defender Ollie Gray, to play as an emergency target-man.

After Gary Mickelborough grabbed a late equaliser, Twyman grabbed a vital three points by rising the highest to power James Gregory’s free-kick into the back of the net, sparking wild celebrations from the stunned home faithful.

Ward, speaking to www.kentishfootball.co.uk tonight, explained that he has granted Twyman permission to continue playing Sunday League football, whilst he remains understudy to number one stopper, Sam Mott, who has only just recovered from a knock.

“Danny came along a couple of weeks ago and done me a favour because Motty was injured,” said Ward.

“Because Motty’s back and I’m waiting to make sure Motty’s alright, Danny’s hanging on a bit if you like, you know what I mean.

“Now, he’s the only lad I’ve got that plays Sunday morning football, so I’ve been letting him play because he’s in between and he plays up front for his Sunday morning team, he can play a bit as well. He’s one of the leading goalscorers in the Sunday League - for The Dolphin.

“I knew all this, and he’s a big lump, to be fair to Corinthian-Casuals, they’re not the biggest side in the world and when we went 2-1 down with about ten minutes to go, I thought well, why not just chuck him on and let him cause a bit of havoc, which is exactly what he done.

“He made the second goal and scored the third goal!”

Ward was pleased with the final outcome, a result that sees the club climb up to ninth place in the Ryman League Division One South table with 25 points from 16 games.

“Another three points, our first double of the season,” said Ward. “We beat them 3-0 up there, where we had the run of the ball up there.

“Saturday was a bit of a funny game, it was all us for 20 minutes, it was all them for an hour and at the end if was us again.”

Ramsgate travel to high-flyers, Folkestone Invicta, on Tuesday night and Ward promises to take the game to Neil Cugley’s side.

Invicta, who defeated Burgess Hill Town 3-1 at the weekend, courtesy of goals from Frankie Chappell, Darren Smith and Josh Vincent, have a mean defence, having lost just one of their 17 league games, conceding only nine league goals in the process.

“The last time we played them they beat us in the FA Cup, but in the league games we’ve got a decent record over them,” recalled Ward.

“Folkestone are flying, I’ve seen them three times this year. Neil’s got them very well organised. If we go there and get anything from them tomorrow night that will be very good.

“What I can tell you is we’ll be positive right from the very start. We won’t go there and be negative. We’ve got a game plan that we’ll stick to and we’ll go from there.

“I’m looking forward to it. It’s a big test, they’ve only let in nine goals all season so you set your stall out against them. This will be a benchmark for us. We’ll find a little bit more about ourselves.”

Ward, whose side are now only four points adrift of the last play-off berth, admits the title may be a bridge too far for his side, but getting into the play-off’s is what he is still targeting.

“Folkestone and (leaders) Worthing are running away with the league, I think we’re 15 points behind them,” said Ward.

“We won’t be in the top spot. We’re too far behind Worthing and Folkestone to have a chance of catching them.

“Our target is fifth, that’s what our target is. We’re a long way off from that, we’re a long way from the finished article. We need to be working on what we’re working on.”

Simon Pettit (sore ribs) has been ruled out of the east Kent derby.

Folkestone Invicta boss, Neil Cugley, meanwhile, is expecting the usual tough game against Ward’s men.

“We always seem to have some tough fixtures against Ramsgate,” he told BBC Radio Kent after their win over Burgess Hill Town.

“But perhaps it’s our turn to have a bit of luck,” he added.

And speaking to www.folkestoneinvicta.co.uk, Cugley added: “In our current position the expectation from people can be high, but we’ve got a hard game coming up with Ramsgate.

“Any points will be hard earned. The players are looking forward to each game though. I know I am and we want to keep this run going.

“Going into December having only lost once in the League is almost unknown and it is a tremendous achievement by the players and they deserve all the credit they get.”

Visit Folkestone Invicta’s website: www.folkestoneinvicta.co.uk

Visit Ramsgate’s website: www.ramsgate-fc.co.uk

Folkestone Invicta v Ramsgate

Ryman League Division One South

Tuesday 1st December 2009

Kick Off 7:45pm

At Cheriton Road, Folkestone, Kent CT19 5JU