THE RAMS CHARGE HAS JUST GOT GOING
STEVE Lovell is sitting pretty on top of the table at Ramsgate – and he believes there’s more to come.
The former Millwall and Gillingham legend joined the Rams at the end of last season following their sixth place finish in the Isthmian South East.
The target then was simply to go one better and clinch a play-off spot but Lovell is exceeding all expectations at the Southwood Stadium with the Rams a point clear at the top of the table ahead of yesterday’s games.
Lovell, 42, capped six times by Wales, has vast managerial experience behind him having managed Gillingham from 2014 to 2019, winning the League One manager of the month in January 2018. And he believes there’s more to come from the Kent club in their quest for title success.
“There’s a lot of good teams in this league, you’ve got to be consistent with your performances and I still think that we’re not firing on all cylinders. There’s a lot to come from us,” Lovell told The NLP.
“I think it’s really killing teams off, we’ve had opportunities where we go one in front and have two or three opportunities to really go out and push on and win games quite easily but we aren’t taking the chances when they come along so it gives the opponent some encouragement to get themselves back into the game.
“When I was with Gillingham it was fulltime, going in every day of the week where you can work with them and work on a system of play and a pattern of play and game understanding.
“Here, that all has got to be crammed into a one night training session so it can become a bit frustrating from my point of view.
“We can’t get any higher than we are now and it’s a nice position to be in but it doesn’t count for anything at the moment, we want to finish in the top five at least to give ourselves an opportunity in the play offs or if not go up automatically.”
The Rams may be on top of table as it stands but they have plenty of company with Chatham Town, Beckenham Town and Cray Valley PM all in close attendance.
Lovell has been here before and expects it to go down to the wire.
“They work hard, they understand the game and really we just enjoy going out and playing football,” he said.
“The club is great to work for, the chairman is a great person who’s working very hard to push the club forward and that’s what got me to come in the first place, he wants to push the club into leagues above – it’s a pleasure to work down there.”