This week for the first time in almost two years, Steve Watt was back in the manager’s chair. 

At Tuesday’s Rob Beazleigh Memorial Cup – a fixture played between Faversham Town and Faversham Strike Force in Mr Beazleigh’s honour – Watt took his place in the Town dugout after being appointed as Tommy Warrilow’s successor during the summer following a short stint as assistant caretaker boss to Frannie Collin following the Easter managerial change at the Aquatherm stadium. 

Watt looked on as two goals from Tashi-Jay Kwayie earned the home side the trophy and was a pleased manager as KSN caught up with him after the game. 

“It was good and great to be back in the dugout,” he admitted.

“We got minutes which was the main thing – looked a little bit disjointed but it was only the first game.” 

Watt played a number of his summer signings with Jack Evans starting in midfield although the former Chatham man was forced off with an injury that didn’t help Watt’s side.

“Certainly, didn’t help,” he said. “He was just getting into his rhythm as the team were and it kind of flattened the game for me really and it took us a while to get back into our stride. It was a good test – Strike Force played well and it was the type of pre-season game that you want which was very competitive throughout.” 

“The boys have been back for a week and done really well. We’re still missing a few on holiday with six away and that’s a big part of the squad not with us. But we’re in a position to make changes and look at the youngsters too which is good; a worthy exercise!” 

Watt has made some exciting signings for the Lillywhites as well as keeping some core players from last season’s squad who narrowly missed out on the Southeast Play off.

“It’s been good we’ve done so much in a very short period of time,” Watt conceded. “When you look at the squad on paper it’s very, very good. The options we’ve got all over the pitch. The front three all looked a handful, the wide boys did well… defensively we looked solid in open play, we had a trialist here and a couple of twenty-threes, I found myself thinking of what it’s going to look like in three four weeks’ time, it is exciting – I enjoyed the game and looking forward to next.” 

“We’re all about players getting minutes into their legs and getting to that first game of the season with everyone fit. We had a really tough week this week with heat; we had done no shape work at all until the game started. We had no preparation about how we can play, how we wanted to play, shapes or whatever and that’s all still to come in the upcoming weeks.”

“This is what pre-season games are for; games for getting minutes under belts and looking at combinations together, especially with so many new players. We looked at a couple of variations up front on Tuesday; the two boys down the right worked really well.”

“It’s all about looking at the combinations and starting the principles that we want and the shape and like going forward. It’s easy to hold yourself back pre-season but you must get out of the games what you need!”