We're trying to get into the Kent League as soon as possible, says Bly Spartans boss Matt Hume

BLY SPARTANS’ manager Matt Hume says he is expecting a tough encounter against Hollands & Blair in a top-of-the-table clash on Wednesday night, writes Stephen McCartney.


The Strood outfit have a 100% record from their opening five Kent Invicta League games and are relishing the opportunity of welcoming their Gillingham based rivals under the floodlights at Rede Court Road.

Paul Piggott’s side – who have won the Kent County League top-flight for two of the last three seasons – are in second place, with four wins and one defeat.

Hume, 41, says he is pleased with his side’s start to the new Kent Invicta League.

He said: “I’m really, really pleased.  We went into pre-season, we had a really good pre-season, feeling reasonably confident and obviously with the results we have got so far, I’m really chuffed with the lads’.  It’s been good.”

Looking ahead to Wednesday night’s Medway top-of-the-table clash, which should attract the club’s largest attendance of the season, Hume said: “It’s a huge game.  We all know how strong Hollands & Blair are, they’re a really strong side and we expect it to be really tough on Wednesday.”

Both club’s harbour ambitions of clinching promotion into the Kent Hurlimann Football League, although Bly Spartans are one step ahead of Blair as they have floodlights at their ground.

“I know Hollands & Blair are ambitious but certainly from our point of view we’ve got a stand being delivered very shortly and the club is really pushing forward to try to get into the Kent League as soon as possible,” said Hume.

“We know it’s going to be tough this year to do as it’s only the winner that can go up, but as a club and everyone involved we’re very ambitious to try to get into the Kent League as soon as possible.”

Hume added: “There’s no pressure, the club understand how tough it is.  We’ve been in the Kent County Premier League for a number of years’ now where I’ve been manager and we know how this league will be tough this year.

“The only thing expected from us is to compete and do well this year.  They (the committee) want to get promoted.  Obviously, now, there’s a lot of excitement around the club.  We’re looking pretty good and hopefully everything can get done so we can go up.

“There are a few teams with budgets in our league and we’re very aware of that.  We’ve got a very small budget to attract certain players and give incentives with bonuses that people can get when they do well and stuff like that and all of that has really helped but that’s come from individuals’ within the club to create a right environment for us to do well.”

Blair hold the bragging rights at present as they won all three of the games between the two Medway club’s last season.

“They were a very good strong side last year and I expect exactly the same this year because Paul’s a very good manager and he has put a very good side together,” said Hume.

“We expect it to be very tough on Wednesday.”

When asked about the standard of the new League at Step Six, Hume replied, “I think everyone’s finding their feet at the moment and it’s very hard to tell first off when you start in a new league.

“My judgement at the moment will possibly there will be two divisions within the league, if you get what I mean.  You’ll possibly find some teams that have come from Division Two and Division One (of the Kent County League) that have jumped up two leagues in affect.  They may find it difficult to attract players straight away but that may not be the case.  I think at the moment it may be too hard to tell how strong the league will be.

“At the moment we haven’t played any poor sides, they’ve all been pretty disciplined, even though the scorelines doesn’t reflect that sometimes as we’ve had some good results in the first five games, but I think that was due to the way we played rather than the opposition being poor.

“I don’t think there’s any easy games and I expect it to be tough all year.  Yes, it’s great to start well and you all want to do that, but very quickly when you play a team that aren’t fairly strong they are looking to beat you every time you play them.

“I’m expecting so called weaker sides to be really tough fixtures now because we’re a team now that people are expecting to be decent and obviously people raise their game when you’re higher up.”

www.kentishfootball.co.uk will be covering this game

Visit Bly Spartans’ website:  www.blyspartansfc.co.uk

Bly Spartans  v  Hollands & Blair
Kent Invicta League
Wednesday 7^th September 2011
Kick Off 7:45pm
at Bly Spartans Sports Ground, Rede Court Road, Strood, Kent ME2 3TU