Going into the weekend’s game in the South East Division of the Bet Victor, leading the Kent charge towards the early lead is currently led by Micky Collins’ Sevenoaks Town, who welcome Faversham Town to Greatness Park on Saturday.

Collins told us, “Considering we’ve had four away games out of six, we’ve had a good return – we’ve been solid and had some really tough games in there, but we’ve dealt with it.”

“Last year I didn’t think that we were good enough. I won’t say that we didn’t take the League seriously, we were under no pressure to achieve. The remit was that we’d taken so long to get out of SECFL we just wanted to stay in the League – we took it as a bit of a journey and just went with it with no pressure.”

“Over this last summer, we’ve had a sit down and a talk about it and looked at personnel without increasing budget and said let’s look at who’s available and see if we can actually grab it by the throat. And I think at times last season when we were struggling, we paid it too much respect and we did a lot of homework on other teams instead of just worrying about us… “

“When I’ve been challenging for Leagues or Cups, I’ve always worked on us, and probably I take the brunt of it despite we finished mid-table because I probably looked at it the wrong way. This year, we’re not!”

“Don’t get me wrong – we’ve strengthened the squad with some great personnel, but I just think that we’ve got a different mindset towards it and I think that’s what it is this year.”

“Because we finished the season quite strongly, a lot of the players we targeted were in position that we wanted. We actually recruited very well and once we got that group in, I think that the players we kept looked at it and went “wow, if this hits the ground we could be alright!” and I think that at any level of football, belief in the players, belief in themselves, and belief in a way that we play which we don’t really deviate from.”

“We got fit in the summer and they’ve come out and they’re enjoying it – it’s a great atmosphere and that’s what we looked at on Tuesday at Hythe – tough game; I thought they were excellent in the second half, but we held on and brought three points away from home.”

“I think that that’s the difference as when you act as one, you get that belief in any squad, the world’s your oyster. Of course you’re going to have tough matches and lose, and I believe that the only time we haven’t turned up this year was in the FA Cup at Corinthian Casuals where we simply didn’t turn up and we were poor and they were good on the day and that was it!”

“We turned that result around and said to the boys that if we can turn things around and go on a bit of a run in the League, who knows where we could be. And if we can get near the Play-offs being in around that, who knows where we can be – and if we can get near the Play-offs, it’ll be fantastic!”

“We’ve gone and delivered two fabulous results at Burgess Hill and again on Tuesday and all of a sudden, the League table looks mad with us second and I get my Chairman phoning me this morning – I think he’s got a nose bleed – we’re doing alright!”

“Whatever happens, it’s been a hell of a journey which we’re just starting on. But I think that suddenly people are sitting up saying “you know what, this mob are serious!” At this stage last season, we had one point but were still in the Cup – this year, we’re out of the Cup but second in the table – go figure! Six games in we’re doing OK – we could lose the next seven and then suddenly we’re back in mid table.”

Ahead of Faversham’s visit at the weekend: “It’s nice to finally be at home as after the weekend, we’ve got another four games away from home. We need to be strong at home and make it a fortress this year and if we can do that, it could still be a great season for us.”

“But it’ll be a tough ask on Saturday and Faversham are a good side and will be tough, but we’ve just got to be on it. They’ll be organised and they’ll be lively – we’ll do our homework before the weekend from the reports that we’ve had, but we won’t change what we’re doing – we’ll be mindful and respectful of what they do and we’ll go out there and trying to do what we’ve been doing – attack.”

The Sevenoaks squad on Saturday will include a new signing for Collins – one that needs little introduction for the opposition as former Faversham striker Renford Tenyue has signed on the dotted line and goes straight into the home seventeen.