We're getting on with adversity, says injury-hit Ramsgate boss Jim Ward

RAMSGATE boss Jim Ward says the emergence of three teenagers has been a positive sign despite suffering from an injury crisis at present.



Ward gave goalkeeper Shannon Harris and wingers Bradley Dack and Tom Chapman an opportunity to impress during their 2-1 win over Crawley Down at the weekend.

Ward said: “It was a well-deserved three points.  Their report in the paper said it was a dour game, but mainly only because we played very well on testing conditions.  The pitch wasn’t the best in the world, very wet, muddy, wet, sticky, the rest of it.

“We had an eighteen-year-old in goal, a seventeen-year-old on the left-wing, a seventeen-year-old on the right-wing and the rest weren’t that much older either!”

When asked how his young trio performed in West Sussex, Ward said: “Excellent!  Excellent!  Done everything that was asked of them and probably more!

“They never fail to amaze me, the sort of performances they turn out.  Of course, with kids’ it’s all about timing.  You have to make sure they don’t play too many games and all that – but they want to play every minute of every day!”

Ward takes his side to Faversham Town on Tuesday night on the back of two wins and two defeats from their last four league games.

However, they lie in eighth-place in the Ryman League Division One South table, with 51 points from 33 games – only seven points adrift of the final play-off berth, with seven games left to play.

When asked what he is expecting at Salters Lane, Ward said: “Blood and thunder!  That’s why nobody, and I keep saying this, nobody from Kent can win the Ryman League south as there’s seven of us (Kent clubs) all knocking alongside one another.

“It’s very difficult and then you have to go and play the big-guns like Dulwich, Whitehawk and Bognor, who haven’t really got any local derbies. It’s very difficult for us. They’ve got local derbies, maybe one or two, we’ve got a dozen.”

Ward added: “We go there, we’re on a good run of games. We’ve got a great set of lads at this club.  Any adversity that we’ve got in front of us, we just get on with it. We’re so thin on the ground, on Saturday, through injuries and suspensions, I’ve only got an eighteen-man-squad and I had five of them missing!

Ward insists no-one should rule out his side to grab a play-off place.

“All the while that we’re not out of it, alright, we’ll keep giving it a go,” said Ward.

“But all we can play is play Faversham on Tuesday night and get the three points.  That’s all we can do, so we’ll look forward to that game and see where it takes us.”

Chipstead visit Southwood Stadium next Saturday and the Surrey outfit can also snatch a play-off berth, as they are one point and one place behind the Rams.

Ward said: “They’re the same.  I don’t want to really get involved with the Chipstead game, but we’ll go into that game, hopefully with the confidence the last few games has taken it.

“We should have beaten Godalming as well. We shouldn’t have got beat.  A couple of daft errors cost us a couple of goals.  We were as good as Godalming.

“We know we’re ok, so we’ll go into the next one and see where it takes us.”

Simon Pettit, Ollie Gray, Warren Schulz, Danny Twyman, Steve O’Brien and Gareth Cornhill are either rated very doubtful or have been ruled out of the Faversham game.

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

Faversham Town  v  Ramsgate
Ryman League Division One South
Tuesday 20^th March 2012
Kick Off 7:45pm
At Salters Lane, Faversham, Kent ME13 8ND