After winning the Isthmian South East title last season, Cray Valley PM are preparing for their first ever season at Step Four and begin this weekend with a massive home game against Dartford. And boss Steve McKimm cannot wait. 

Speaking to KSN ahead of this historic weekend for the Club, McKimm admitted, “Absolutely buzzing, the Clubs on fire at the minute! There’s excitement all around because one, it is our first game at this level which makes it is an incredibly special day.

“Two, we are playing Dartford, who will be many peoples favourites to win the League because of their stature and what they have achieved before and three, hopefully because it’s the first game and we’re playing that sort of opposition! It is a win, win all-round for the Club.” 

Reflecting on their amazing campaign last year which them win the division and remain unbeaten in the League on the road all season, the boss admitted, “I can now really appreciate what we achieved last year. I had two weeks away and all our business was done early because the players wanted to stay, and we did not have to do a lot of changing.

“Kyrel Lisbie went to Braintree, and we bought Andre Coker in, and it has been a relatively easy summer for me, we wanted to keep people at the Club and give them a chance and we believe that they can do well at this level.

“It gave me time to think about how we are going to approach the season before pre-season started, and having the time away, it gave me time to think about what the Club had achieved, what the players and the staff had achieved, and it was fantastic just reminiscing and thinking about certain moments in the season whilst I was laying on my sun-bed, and the bliss and the joy that we gave a lot of people!” 

“Everyone believes that it is a big step from the division we have come from to the division we are now in, but I think people say that about every League.

“I think if you are equipped well enough, understand what is required and you can get your team doing what you want them to do, then you are in with half a chance of doing OK in the League.

“What you must realise is that every team is going to be competitive, every team is going to fit, and there are going to be touches of quality that you may not have seen in certain teams in the Leagues below, that filters down the whole pyramid.” 

“There was excitement obviously when the fixtures gave us Dartford at home on opening day,” McKimm admitted.

“Grateful is the word that I would use about the fixture because as I have said, it is the first ever game at this level for Cray Valley Paper Mills. To get someone with a fan base like Dartford and a Club like Dartford who have played in the National Premier in their first game in the Isthmian Premier for the first time in a good few years and want to bounce straight back up.

“Ady Pennock, I know very well, and they will have a good side and a good backing behind them to make it a great atmosphere for our very first experience at this level.”