Rochester United’s Luis Dos Santos scored a hat-trick in a 3-0 win over Faversham Strike Force – Southern Counties East Division 1 promotion chasers play away to FC Elmstead this Saturday

lcawdell@thekmgroup.co.uk

Published: 05:00, 23 January 2025 | Updated: 09:47, 23 January 2025

Rochester United manager Matt Hume is enjoying the luxury of squad rotation this season.

Hume’s been able to select from a talented squad and one of those in and out of the side, Luis Dos Santos, hit a hat-trick in a 3-0 win over Faversham Strike Force on Saturday.

Rochester United manager Matt Hume Picture: Steve Crispe

It’s seven in three games for Dos Santos and his weekend treble led to a win that pushed the Spartans closer to the play-off places. They have a handful of games in hand over those teams above them, including Strike Force.

Hume said: “I dropped three players on Saturday that did very well the game before, but I said in my team-talk that I don’t want sulkers in this dressing room.

“It’s not about individuals, it’s not about me, it’s about us as a team and a club wanting to get promoted.

“I want them to be cheering their mates on from the bench, it’s their team, we have all got to win it together.

“You could tell they’re upset, they want to play, but their attitudes have been great, which is the recipe for us to be strong enough for the rest of this season.

“We have a good rotation going on within the squad now, which they are all onboard with, which will hopefully get us through the next couple of months.

“I have to manage the situation and make sure the squad is big enough because we’re going to have at least Tuesday-Saturday games now for a few weeks and other games slipped in. I need to make sure it’s managed right.

“We are in a great position. I would rather have the points on the board and the games played but we are in a strong position going into this bit now.

“I’ve emphasised it loads to the lads that if they want to win this league like we all do we can’t win it with eleven players, we need 16-17. We have to move it around and give everyone opportunities to play and they have all bought into it.

“Last year I didn't have the quality on the bench that I did on the pitch and that showed when we had a few injuries, where we were then weaker.

“Any team, any squad, even Tottenham at the moment, if you have lots of injuries there is nothing you can do, you need some luck but also I have a great bunch who are onboard with this rotation thing and they are loving it.

“They have been together for a few years, the recipe is there to be successful we just need that little bit of luck to keep everyone fit.”

SCEFL Division 1 table

Hume’s side head to lowly FC Elmstead this Saturday in the Southern Counties East first division but positions mean nothing to the manager.

“We haven’t had any gimmes this season,” he said.

“They’ve all been tough, even bottom side Meridian were tough to beat and we only won 2-0. They were every bit as good as Faversham that we played last Saturday.

“We are expecting a really tough game on Saturday against FC Elmstead.

“When you start looking like a team pushing to be up there, like we are, opponents raise their game a bit and we have to expect that.

“They know we are going to be reasonably good. They know they have to be good to compete against us. We can’t take anyone for granted because we haven’t experienced any easy game.”

Rochester have been drawn at home to SCEFL Premier Division play-off chasers Punjab United in the quarter-finals of the Challenge Cup, scheduled for Tuesday, February 2.

The Spartans have already seen off higher-ranked sides Lydd and Kennington in the competition.

Hume said: “They will be good, I know they have a reasonable budget.

“It will be a proper test, a tough game but if they are at our place I am very confident that if we play to our ability we can have a good go at it. That will be an exciting opportunity to see where we are.”