There is an old adage that winning the Manager of the Month award is an immediate curse on the team’s form, and so it proved in October.   

Manager Kevin Rayner was chosen by the Southern Counties East Football League Manager of the Month for September which was followed by five successive defeats in October that has seen the team crash out of two cups and slip down the league to 10th spot.

Rayner (pictured above) received his award from League Chair Denise Richmond before the game against Erith and Belvedere and chose to share the award with the rest of his management team.

Rayner secured his award following AFC Croydon’s 2-0 win over Deal Town that capped an excellent month and was the team’s best performance of the season so far, writes Paul Smith.

Goals from Nahum Green and Luis Medina rounded off a fine month.   Medina has made a fine start having scored four goals in his opening seven appearances.

In there last match on Saturday (Oct 28) they were beaten by just one goal by Tunbridge Wells.

The month ahead sees five home games as the team looks to get itself back on track.   League matches against Erith Town (Nov 4), Sheppey United (Nov 18t) and Rochester United (Nov 25) along with a League Cup match against Lewisham Borough (14 Nov) and finally a Surrey Senior Cup match against Metropolitan Police (28 Nov) which give The Rams an excellent chance to rack up a run of wins.   

The game on Saturday November 4 is also significant as the Club is partnering charities with Kit4Causes to collect a variety of old kit to send off around the world.

Club supporter Julian Chenery collects bags of kit donated by clubs and individuals which then makes its way to help kit out teams in Africa and elsewhere.   

Julian will gratefully receive any spare kit, of whatever size, and will arrange for it to be sent on.   The club is delighted to work with Julian to support this cause and hope that their supporters will too.

November is another busy month, not just for the first team but the U21s and U18s too.