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Faversham Town manager Ray Turner aiming to take club top of Ryman League Division 1 South for the first time

Boss Ray Turner claims “these are great days at Faversham Town” as they bid to hit the top of Ryman League, Division 1 South for the first time in club history.

If Town win at Whyteleafe and Herne Bay beat Burgess Hill on Saturday, then Town will be top of the division for the first time since their promotion in 2010 and further up the football pyramid than any Faversham side in 64 years.

Even if they don’t overhaul Hill on Saturday, Town will get another chance when they travel to leaders Burgess Hill on Wednesday night (7.45pm).

Turner admitted: “Nobody’s looking at the table in the first 10 games really but we have to be happy with how we’ve begun.

“I know we’ve been second in the table before, a couple of seasons before but we’ve never been top at this level.

“If results go our way and that happens, then that’s fine by me. I don’t mind us being up there as a target for teams.

“We’ve gone about things the right way. We’ve progressed slowly each year, not done it all in a year like some teams do. We’re building the club the right way.”

He added: “Eight of our next nine games are away – I have never known anything like it.

“We have got to get our heads down, make ourselves hard to beat and make sure we pick up points and hopefully stay in touch at the top.

“Whyteleafe will be a test, particularly on an artificial surface and Burgess Hill have been rivals for the past couple of years. They are a good team.”

Faversham manager Ray Turner
Faversham manager Ray Turner

Town stayed second after beating Guernsey 3-0 at Salters Lane on Tuesday – a game which continued the feel-good factor after Saturday’s 2-1 FA Cup win at Leatherhead which earned them a second qualifying round trip to Maidenhead on Saturday week and made it £4,925 in prize money for the run.

Turner said: “We had to defend in the second-half but you expect that somewhere like Leatherhead, who have quality players like Carl Rook and Stacy Long.

“It was a great result and a fantastic way to win it with a brilliant goal like that from Jack Harris.”

He added: “The draw could have been a lot kinder to us. It’s a tough one but it will be a great new challenge against a team we’ve never played.”

Before last season, Town had not reached this stage since 1991.

Saturday’s match-winner Harris is set to miss the Whyteleafe game with an ankle problem picked up on Tuesday.

He joins absentees Darren Marsden, Luke Harvey, Jamie Maxted and Renford Tenyue, although John Scarborough should start after being rested in midweek.

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