West Wickham split over League future

MINNOWS West Wickham are looking to spring yet another surprise in the Kent Senior Trophy on Saturday, writes Stephen McCartney.

The Southern Amateur League outfit are confident that they can knock out a Norton Sports side that are in sixth place in their first ever Bulmers Cider Kent League campaign, with a record of four wins and five defeats.

Admission to the first round tie is free, although the club are issuing a match day programme, costing £2, in a big to entice people to watch the game.

"We are looking forward to their visit,” Cotton told www.kentishfootball.co.uk.

“I have not seen them play, but they were in the same league as our neighbours Coney Hall last season and they said that they were a good, strong side, so we will be in for a tough encounter no doubt.

“To be honest, we have not been playing well this season due to unavailability and injuries plus three of our players are playing for England Amateurs in Turin later this month in the UEFA National Cup competition and this seems to have affected their performances.

“We have lost our two English Junior International players to University and they will only play during University holidays, but we have some good young players coming through our strong connections with local schools.

“We hope to get a few more supporters than normal and, of course, admission is free as our ground is not enclosed.

“We hope to sell a few programmes so that we are not out of pocket and those that do come will find that they receive a warm welcome and they are welcome in the clubhouse for drinks and snacks.”

Past performances in this competition has given Cotton confidence that it could well and truly be their year this term.

He said: “This season we are chasing five trophies, we have already won two of them, but we have never won the Kent Senior Trophy and we will have a good crack at it this year.

“Remember Whitstable two season’s ago? We would have won the Cup that year, but for their keeper and the crossbar - we lost the penalty shoot out 6-5.

“I can’t say anymore about Saturday’s game as we haven’t seen Norton Sports play and I can only look at their league position to get some idea of their strength.

“They are probably on par with Holmesdale, who we beat comfortably in their last pre-season friendly, but it is dangerous to draw too many conclusions without any hard evidence.

“Whichever way we will be determined to enjoy Saturday’s game and look forward to having a beer with the Norton boys afterwards.”

West Wickham appear to be split whether to make the jump into the Vandanel Kent County League - or even the Bulmers Cider Kent League - or stay where they are.

Cotton is even thinking about contacting local Kent League clubs to find out how much it’ll cost groundsharing as their ground at Corkscrew Hill is not fit for that level of football.

“We touched on the subject of the Kent League before and we have, at times, considered moving into the pyramid but, as you know, at the bottom (of the non-league pyramid) the pitches are generally poor and the standard of football is a long way below the level that we are currently playing at,” Cotton explained.

“So this is a big deterrent for the current players and I believe that they would drift away and play for somebody else if we joined.

“We would need to recruit new players, which would make progress difficult so, in order to move up the pyramid, we would probably have to move backwards to start with and we would end up with a different type of player.

“At the moment we do lose players but they move upward into the Ryman League mainly and, luckily for us, some return to the club with one or two pals. That’s’ why we have been successful in recent years.

“The other problem is midweek fixtures and the amount of travelling involved. The players simply don’t want to do it and many would find it impossible to get time off from their businesses.

“In many ways it’s a pity that we cannot play in a higher standard. We have a good pitch but no floodlights and the local people block our attempts to get floodlights.

“We run six adult sides and ten junior sides so we provide a very good local sporting service to the community, but this counts for little with the locals.

“Another problem would be to find a local ground sharing facility. Beckenham Town are our nearest club, but we haven’t explored the possibilities of a link with them. However, to keep the door open, I will start a dialogue wit them to find out the costs involved.

“We already attract bigger crowds than most of the Kent League sides and they don’t have to pay to get in, although we will produce a programme for Saturday’s game and sell them at £2 each.

“We won the top division of the Southern Amateur League last season by 12 points as well as the Kent/Surrey Senior Cup and we were unfortunate to go out of the Kent Senior Trophy when we gave VCD Athletic a two goal start and lost 2-0.

“This was our first game of the season whilst VCD were well into their programme. Had the game been played a month later, I think we would have beaten them.”

West Wickham v Norton Sports
Kent Senior Trophy First Round
Saturday 11^th October 2008
Kick Off 3:00pm
At Corkscrew Hill, West Wickham, Kent