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Tonbridge boss Steve McKimm insisted he still believes in his players despite an opening day horror show at Ebbsfleet.
Angels were four goals down inside the first half-hour of the National League South season as they failed to repeat last season’s heroics at Stonebridge Road when they claimed a 1-0 victory.
McKimm’s side dug deep to keep the damage to a 5-1 defeat but he knew what the reaction would be from around the league.
“What will happen now is everyone will say relegation fodder,” stated McKimm. “We’ve been tipped to go down every year so it’s no different to the last three seasons and we’ll take that with a pinch of salt.
“If we get relegated, we get relegated, but I’m 99 per cent sure that we won’t because I’ve got enough about me and the club have, to make us stay in this league which is what we want to do.
“Our aim is to get better every year, this year I’ve bought in better players than I’ve probably ever had in terms of the experience of the levels they’ve played. They have to show me, as well as the existing players, that I’ve made the right decision and we move on.
“Five-one is a big kick in the teeth and it’s hard to pick players up. They’ll be down and miserable because no-one wants to get beat by that scoreline.”
McKimm was an Isthmian League winner when he played for the Fleet under Andy Ford nearly 20 years ago.
The Fleet are now full-time and will expect to be challenging for the title. It’s a path McKimm wants to see the Angels follow one day.
“I know where Tonbridge are looking to get to,” added McKimm. “We are looking to be a club like the top six in our league, the main stand at Ebbsfleet is fantastic.
“We’re looking to get something like that, maybe a 3G pitch that will increase revenue and allow us to get a bigger squad. I heard Ebbsfleet left eight out of their squad on Saturday, I’ve got 16 to work with. I’m not pleading poverty or crying wolf but our club wants to get to that stage where we can have extra funds and put it into the playing budget and have a choice of players.
“We’ve got to stay in this league, we’ve got to do the best we can, if we can get a run of results together that would be great and I’m sure we can because we’ve got the players to do it and I believe in them. Whether some people might not at the moment, I definitely do.
“It’s small steps for us. As a club we are looking to build, we’ve got people now who are not throwing money into the club but they’re assessing the club and how we do things. Whether I’m here or not, at least I can say that I started that process and kept them in the league so they can do bigger and better things and become a full-time side if that’s what the dream is, three, four, five, six years down the line.
“With Ebbsfleet’s performance and movement, it proves it’s worth it. It proves that’s where you’ve got to be if you want to kick on in football.”
Angels’ tough start continues with a home clash against much-fancied Bath this Saturday.
The lack of early midweek games this season means Tonbridge have had a full week to work on their game plan.
“We move onto Bath and go again,” stated McKimm. “We’ll set them up, watch them and hopefully they follow the instructions and we get the victory that we know we can do.
“As a manager and player, I always liked to get back on the bike and play again on the Tuesday. I think the players have the bit between their teeth when there’s only a short space of time between games.
“But the flip side is that we can work on stuff, the players can try and understand where we’re coming from and what we’re trying to do. Each game will be different, Bath will play different to Ebbsfleet, then we play Hungerford who will be different again.
“Everyone has their own way of playing, their own good and bad parts, and our job is to exploit it. We did that at times against Ebbsfleet but we were very naïve in certain aspects where we allowed them to score some of their goals.”
