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Celebrations are on hold for Chatham Town after winning the Velocity Cup on Wednesday night.
Chats beat Hashtag United 2-1 in the League Cup final but have two big games over successive weekends as they complete their regular Isthmian Premier Division fixtures ahead of the play-offs.
Kevin Hake’s men take on Horsham this Saturday - a side currently occupying the last play-off place in the division - and then Enfield Town on the final day away from home. With an extra game to play, Enfield could still take over Chatham’s long-held position as the division’s second-placed side.
Chatham want home advantage in the play-offs, which second place would guarantee, in both the semi-finals and the final, should they make it.
They are due back in training tonight (Thursday) in preparation for the Horsham game.
“That’s another massive game and there’s no celebrations,” said Hake, after winning the league cup.
“We have a big 19 days now for the club and the time to be celebrating is when those 19 days are over.
“We’re in training (tonight) to prepare for Horsham.
“We want to get home advantage and we will be striving to do that.
“We have four big games now, 19 days, we have to make sure we’re up for every single one of them, leave no stone unturned and try and finish as high as we can and get that goal of promotion.”
Isthmian Premier Division table
It’s likely the team will be given a pass on Saturday night to toast their cup win, once the Horsham game is out of the way.
Victory over Hashtag came thanks to Jamie Yila’s 93rd-minute winner in a tight contest at Aveley Football Club. Jordy Robins had puts Chats ahead on 31 minutes but The Tag hit back on 52.
“It’s never easy to win a cup final,” said Hake.
“They made it difficult for us, sometimes you have to grind out a win and that’s what we’ve done.
“We took one point out of two games in the league against them and we knew we had to be at our best, they are a lively team, they rested people on Saturday, but we didn’t have that luxury because we’re still chasing. It was a tough game but we got the win.
“When you get the opportunity (to win a cup) you have to grasp it at both ends and that’s what the boys have done.
“We knew it could go deep, go late, we have seen they have conceded goals late, not that late but it was one of the things we said, it could be and it was this time.
“The boys stuck in, kept going until the end and they put the pressure on us at times, a bit like a boxing match with it going backwards and forwards but we got the win, which is the main thing.”
