Only the best is good enough for Chatham Town Women’s boss Keith Boanas.

He’s seen Chatham pick up wins from their previous two outings - including a 3-1 victory over Ebbsfleet last Sunday in the Kent Cup quarter-finals. There are encouraging signs but he wants more.

He said: “People around the ground on Sunday were telling me that they could see the improvement and could see the change but for me that is not enough, I won’t allow players to play below what I believe is their best and I am starting to work that out.

“If I don’t see their best I won’t be happy, that is the message I will hammer home, I am not going to let them drop.

“We have got some experienced players in there with some leadership qualities and they are stepping up, they are sensing something and also seeing there is going to be competition, which is massively important.

“I have a good group of people around me, staff-wise, and the environment is changing. It goes without saying that Kevin (Hake, the chairman) and the club are really supportive and the objective is to pay them back for that support.

“There is no guarantee we are going to win every game but we have to make every effort to do that.”

Next up this Sunday is an FA Women’s Cup second round clash against AFC Wimbledon (1pm) at the Bauvill Stadium.

Chats lost 2-0 to Wimbledon earlier this season in the League Cup and were beaten by the London side in last year’s Women’s FA Cup.

Boanas, who previously led Charlton to four FA Women’s Cup finals and victory over Everton in 2005, said: “There is a bit of a revenge mission but not all the girls were involved in those games and that won’t be the focus, it has to be just get things right and making sure I put out the right team. We have every chance.

“They are a division below (playing in Division 1 South East), albeit they are leading it and we know they have good players.

“I know Ashlee Hincks really well, she played for me at Charlton and was probably integral in developing her as a player and getting her into the England youth squad. I know what she is capable of and she lives 10 minutes away from the ground. She is their biggest goal scoring weapon but they have got others.”

While victory will be another step in the right direction for Chats, the prize money will help too.

Boanas said: “I have made it very clear that every game we play is like a cup final, that included the previous games and that will be for every game here on in, that is the approach.

“There are obviously rich rewards in the FA Cup and the money is escalating. We won £5,000 when we won it in 2005 at Charlton but we won £6,000 last week in the first round!

“As far as Chatham is concerned, that prize money is invaluable, just to survive and hopefully prosper and any funding that we get into the club helps build for the future and obviously towards next year, sustainability and hopefully progressing.

“We are not going to just focus on the league and not worry about the cup, there is the prize money and it does build momentum.”

Chats went behind in last Sunday’s game, watched on by a decent crowd of 321 at the Bauvill Stadium, but two fine strikers from Tish Nicholls and one for Lottie Sharp helped them to a 3-1 win and a place in the Kent Cup semi-finals.

Boanas said: “The last two weeks we’ve gone behind and it shows something, that we are capable of doing that, but it’s upsetting to have conceded, against the run of play, we weren’t playing fantastically well but enough to be two or three up with the chances that we created.”

Chatham were missing a trio of midfield players who were all absent on the same trip to Morocco, which forced Boanas to juggle the team around. They had considered taking Nicholls off before she hit the net from distance, the first of her double.

“Both were special,” said the manager. “The second one the better of the two probably, a carbon-copy of something she had done in training on the Thursday which was pleasing to see that she repeated that in the game itself. It was up there with the highest level goal you are likely to see.

“In the end it was probably comfortable but we just make things uncomfortable for ourselves.

“I am still working on getting to know certain players, strengths and weaknesses, and I have still got good players to come in, it is not going to get easier to select the team or get a settled side but that is a headache you want.

“There is fierce competition for places and hopefully we can raise the bar a little bit and that makes my job a little harder. You have to make those decisions, this week we have another big game and there will be some tough decisions to make.”