With seven games left of their SCEFL Premier season left, Lordswood are staring at relegation as they find themselves nine points adrift of safety which has led this week to the reappointment for the third time of Club legend Jason Lillis, who along with Scott Porter and Mark Lane have been charged to pull off The Great Escape.

Following the departure of Ross Wiles and Lee Garlinge this week, the “call for Lillis” signs went up at Martyn Grove and were answered just as Snodland Town beat Holmesdale on Tuesday night to put nine points between themselves and the rock-bottom Lords. 

We caught up with Lillis as he was starting the preparation for Saturday’s trip to Play Off chasers Fisher and Lillis explained the decision to become Lords boss for a fourth time.

“Firstly, it’s a management team,” he explained. “You have to remember that twice I’ve gone back because I was asked and wanted to be part of the Club and love the Club, and the other two were to try and get the Club back to the levels where they were with me previously.”

“This though is the biggest challenge that the three of us will face – I’ve never faced anything like this before in any of my footballing career!” 

“We’re not in a good place and the League table doesn’t lie! I have watched a few games and it’s not as if games shouldn’t have been lost.”

“They have lost games from being in winning positions and many of them have been in ninety plus minutes where games could have been won or drawn, so it’s one of those things that is there, but we must now try and get as many wins as we can in the last seven games and get ourselves above the line,” Lillis told us adding, “And let’s hope that lady luck is with us!” 

“Seven games left and a really hard start at Fisher at the weekend. We had the boys in for a meeting on Monday night and we told them what our expectations are of them, but of us as well as a management team.”

“Everyone has to roll their sleeves up and we have to keep fighting, keep pushing away and hopefully the fight might get us the results and we need!” 

“I would never ever disrespect any other team in this League as you cannot do that, but if you look at the games that we have left and especially the sides that are not challenging, they are winnable!”

“There is something in this team – even before we came in, the boys recently went down to Whitstable – who remember are in the Vase Semi Finals – and only got beat by a goal in stoppage time at the end of the game, losing 2-1!” 

“They also have only won once at home since the end of August which says a lot! The win over Lydd a few weeks ago was the first one since beating Hollands & Blair on August Bank Holiday.”

“We must turn that around and we have to go into every game now and there’s no sugar coating it anymore, we must go into all games and get results. We cannot afford to look at anyone else’s results, we must do it ourselves!” 

As we said, Lordswood are at Fisher on Saturday, ironically who they beat 4-1 in the reverse fixture in August. “

What I would take that on Saturday,” Lillis laughed, “I’ll take a scruffy one nil in stoppage time – we don’t care how we win, we have to! It doesn’t matter how. We must find a formula to get that first win and we’ll take that all day long!”