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Sittingbourne manager Nick Davis says squad struggling to cope with 'ridiculous' number of fixtures to fulfil

00:00, 22 November 2017

Sittingbourne boss Nick Davis feels their heavy schedule is costing them.

Brickies played their 29th game of the season at Molesey on Tuesday - a 3-2 victory - and Davis says that’s ridiculous.

They’ve had only one Tuesday off all season and it’ll be January 10 before they have a free midweek.

Sittingbourne boss Nick Davis says his side are running on empty Picture: John Westhrop
Sittingbourne boss Nick Davis says his side are running on empty Picture: John Westhrop

It’s getting too much for a Brickies side whose brilliant start to the campaign had faltered with four defeats in five games before winning at Molesey.

Davis said: “The league need to look at this because there’s a ridiculous amount of games being played. They just keep coming and coming with the league games and all the cup competitions.

“You just can’t do it – you need a 25-man squad to cope. How can you keep up the level of performances when you’re playing so many games? It can’t be done.

“You look at the Kent Senior Cup and the League Cup and they’re opportunities to win something, so you still want to put out a decent side but then the club want to do well in the FA Cup and the FA Trophy, because that’s where the money is, so you’re caught between a rock and a hard place.

“I’ve said I prefer games to training on a Tuesday night but there comes a point when you need a break. After the weekend we’ll have played 30 games by the last week in November and it’s caught up with us.”

Brickies host Bostik South leaders Corinthian Casuals on Saturday followed by Wingate & Finchley away in the League Cup third round on Tuesday night.

Lex Allan is three days into his trial with Championship club Norwich but will be back for the weekend. The centre-half has hardly played since attracting interest from a host of big clubs, with Ben Gorham and John Coker preferred.

Davis said: “Where we’ve been breaking records defensively I haven’t wanted to change too much. I’ve got to be fair to the other players.

“He could be in contention for Saturday but if you’d offered him seven or eight games by this stage of the season, he’d have taken it.”

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