They may have won three Cup competitions last season but for the Chatham Town Women’s boss Keith Boanas there’s still unfinished business as he wants to take his side back to the National League. 

Despite winning the Kent Senior Cup, the Isthmian League Cup and the Combines Counties League Cup at the end of last season, Boanas is still smarting from missing out on promotion as his side missed out on an immediate return. 

“When I encouraged the Club to apply for all those competitions, I honestly had a gut feeling that they were winnable! I hoped that we’d do better in the League cups too – losing to Hashtag was a decent performance but to lose to Actonians in the plate was a real sickener and then going out of the FA Cup the round before the big teams came in and the way we did… We rallied well and got at least the one the Chairman (Kevin Hake) wanted – the clubs name on the Kent Cup!” 

“I did feel that I let the Chairman down by not getting promotion and if I had been in the same place with the group last year as we were the year before then I wouldn’t still be here! I was having sleepless nights but after talking to Kev, I stayed and the turn round which was so needed has been great.” 

“I’m delighted with the retention list we were able to sign. There were one or two who did drive me mad at times,” the coach confessed, “But you can’t really blame them as they were all trying to switch off after a long season. We left the start date a bit later to try and give them a good break; we all needed the break, players and staff alike! At the moment, I am really pleased with things and the way it’s gone.” 

There is one new face in red at the Bauvill as Amy Russ has joined the Chats from Dartford. “She scored against us more than once last year and we spoke to her last season, but she had already committed to Dartford – she didn’t want to break that, and you must give her massive credit for that,” a happy Chats manager said.  

“I was made aware this year that she was available, so I messaged Martin McCarthy at Dartford who I know really well and was given the green light to talk. I chatted to her, and she came training and from that very first one has slotted in really well. She looks, the part – number nine or number ten, definitely with an eye for goal, and if that’s a sign of what’s to come then we’ll all be very glad to have got her on board. She has got the right attitude and mentality for this group – that is something of course that improved vastly last year to the season before!” 

“We’ve a reasonable mix of opposition for pre-season. I am happy with the win over Wimbledon on Sunday (the Chats came from behind to win 4-1). We’re playing a couple of teams from the Championship, who are two leagues higher than us, one from the league above and a couple from the League below.  

“We’ll use the games to get the balance right and hopefully the order that we have them in will mean that we head into the start of the League season with confidence building performances.” 

“Wimbledon came strong on Sunday as I know that Charlton will when we go there on Sunday so both games are more about performances rather than results and looking after the girls during pre-season.  

“I’m really pleased with the way that they have come back, and our fitness tests have shown good levels which are already matching the levels they were at the end of last season which is a good start and means they have been looking after themselves since the end of the season.”