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A new Chatham partnership between two experienced heads has been praised by boss Kevin Hake.
Player-assistant Danny Kedwell and former Dover captain James Dunne have taken up respective roles in front of Chats’ backline, allowing captain Jack Evans to push further forward in midfield.
Kedwell and Dunne have a combined age of 74 and a wealth of Football League experience between them. While their best days are behind them, the pair could still play key roles in Chatham’s Isthmian Premier promotion bid.
Hake said: “They wouldn’t have played together before but I thought they were superb on Saturday.
“They showed real desire to win headers, win tackles and, when you get them on the ball, they’re just a class apart.
“The pair of them have been outstanding.”
Dunne only joined Chats this month from Dover while goalkeeper Mitchell Beeney, defender Sid Nelson and full-back Jamie Mascoll made their debuts in last weekend’s 2-1 league win over struggling Margate.
Debut display earns Chats man place in team-of-the-week
Beeney replaced Slav Huk between the sticks while experienced defender Kristian Campbell has departed.
Hake explained: “We have got a good crop of lads but I feel it’s important that we bring in new players that don’t feel the pressure as much as maybe some others do.
“Difficult decisions have been made. Some we get right, some we get wrong.
“Having moved into my third season of having done this, we have never had back-to-back defeats in the league so the lads do respond really well.”
Chatham remain some way behind frontrunners Hornchurch but Hake is in no mood to give up on winning another title yet.
“All we can do is keep winning,” he stated. “From there, whatever happens, happens.”
Chats’ most likely route to promotion looks to be through the play-offs, though, provided they finish in the top five.
Hake said: “We have had two good seasons - but why can’t we have a third one now? That’s what we have got to be looking at and putting on in order to try and do that.
“That’s where our standards are. This club is an evolving football club and we want to try and move it on.
“We’re not getting ahead of ourselves - there’s some really decent teams - and should we be lucky enough to be in the play-offs, we just want to give it a good go.”
Another crowd of just shy of 2,000 turned out in cold conditions against Margate, with neighbours Gillingham having played away the night before.
Hake said: “I thought it would be a big one - and it was. To have nearly 2,000, that’s unreal.”
Those fans witnessed a moment of magic as top scorer Jamie Yila curled beyond goalkeeper Harry Seaden for his 12th goal this season.
“Jamie has the ability to do that,” enthused Hake, who saw Gate level through defender Tyrone Sterling before striker Rowan Liburd got the game’s all-important third goal.
“He can turn on a sixpence and put it into the top corner, like he did. I thought he put a great shift in.
“That’s about, not just the stuff he did with the ball, but off the ball, I thought he was outstanding.”
Chatham, who beat Billericay 4-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw to reach the Semi-Final of the Velocity Cup in midweek as Mascoll netted, visit Lewes in the league on Saturday and host Hythe in the Kent Senior Cup on Tuesday.
