The Isthmian South East manager of the month is Cray Valley’s Steve McKimm and ahead of his side’s trip to Northwood in the Emirates FA Cup this weekend, he’s been talking to KSN.
“Credit has to go to all the players who have bought into what we want to do,” McKimm explained.
“The staff that have worked tirelessly and the people behind the scenes, the board and the volunteers, as the support we’ve had so far is unbelievable!”
“The players have been tremendous and the team that I’ve got working with me is working, we just bounce off each other and it’s working at the moment. We know that around the corner things can go wrong but you’ve got to enjoy the moments when you’re doing well.”
“It’s one round at a time in the Cup, you could get a bit of luck and play teams around your level all the way through, or you could be unlucky and pick a couple of the big boys out which you can test your wits against. But we’ve got to take one game at a time, it’s not a cliché, it’s the FA Cup.”
“You can only play what’s in front of you. Northwood are a good side, their manager was with Hendon, so he knows what he’s talking about, he knows what he’s doing having worked with a good manager in Gary McCann as part of his staff.”
“It won’t be an easy game, I’ve been to watch them which I’d be a fool not to and there’s no point me not disclosing that because we do our homework on teams; we know their threats and if they’ve got any slight weaknesses, we’ll try and exploit them as they are a very good side!”
“When you put trust in other people to watch a game for you, you have to trust what they see on the side’s strengths and weaknesses. But everyone sees a different game, so because I see something different from someone else, doesn’t mean that I’m right.”
“If you’re watching a game yourself, the buck ultimately stops with you which it does anyway as you’ll never throw anyone “under the bus!” If I get a scout to go and watch a game, I’m not going to hang them out to dry if we get a few things wrong because it’s just football!”
“There’s no team in our League who have played more than four games so far, some have played two because they’re still in the Cups. So, at the end of the Cup runs you might only be two or three games behind, we’ve managed to fit in a League game next midweek.”
“We’re not really falling too far behind but being involved in Cup competitions is great, the longer and further it could be a distraction but at the moment you’ve got to live and love it because we’re getting the positive results and everyone around the Club is buzzing and long may that continue.”
McKimm then told us that he’s hoping to take a full squad with him at the weekend adding, “it’s a really important game for the Club as there’s good money on it; it’s a really important game for the players so that they can progress and it’s a really important game because it is the FA Cup and everyone loves the FA Cup!”