“I’d have taken the draw” admitted a disappointed Ramsgate manager, Tim Dixon, after his side’s heart-breaking 2-1 defeat to Ryman One South leaders Maidstone United. 
“We were living dangerously for large parts of the game. We got back into it with ten minutes to go, and we were doing a lot of things well like defending the long throws and ball into the box, but they go and sneak one at the end through the long throw. I am disappointed, but we’ve got a lot to look forward to. If someone had said to me that by Easter Monday, we’d be fifth in the league with playoff places up for grabs, I’d have been well chuffed.”
Dixon, who missed his side’s 3-1 Good Friday victory over neighbours Herne Bay while watching his 10-year old son play at a tournament in Amsterdam, had seen Ramsgate fall behind to Alex Flisher’s calmly taken goal just after the hour.
But his side battled back to force Stones’ defender Steve Watt to head into his own net, only for former Ramsgate forward Stuart King’s injury time goal, in which Rams keeper Darren Hawkes also picked a potentially season-ending injury, sealed the result.
He added “I think you have to take the positives out of the game today. Alright we’ve lost 2-1, but you have to look at what we’ve done well. Remember, we’re fifth in the league with an awful lot to play for. The lads know that and I won’t let them think any different. We’ve got ourselves into a good position and we’ve got to maintain that until the end of the season.”
In his first season in charge, Dixon has rejuvenated the Southwood-based club and explained “we are a small club and a lot of people forget that there is a football club in Ramsgate. There are a lot of financial implications involved, but I’ve got a group of lads together who want to play for Ramsgate and improve their game.”
“Sometimes there are constraints, but punching above our weight? To be honest I was expecting us to make the playoffs, and I would have been disappointed if we weren’t there or thereabouts. There has been some inconsistency, but that’s true of a lot of clubs in this league. It’s been an exciting league this year, and we’re still in the hunt, which I’m chuffed about.”
“I’ve got a lot of good players in my team”, at which point Dixon jokingly said that the nearby Maidstone manager Jay Saunders should have a look at a couple of them, before continuing, “but if we do go onto the next stage, as hopefully one or two Kent teams will this year, we have to keep hold of our players and build a good team spirit.”
When looking at the playoffs position, and his side’s recent run, Dixon concluded “There’s always one team that comes late, and I said to the lads about a month ago, why can’t it be us? We had three good results before today, and there are positives to take from today as well, but it’s a case of putting together those results and getting clean sheets. Hythe had a really good run with about six one-nils, so we’re not far off.”
“We’re up against Worthing next, who we saw at Faversham recently, and they are a good, but inconsistent side. It’s another tough game, but there’s five cup final’s for us now, and hopefully the lads are in the right frame of mind to treat every game as a cup final.”