Hear from Ramsgate FC manager, Ben Smith, after his side beat Woking to secure a spot in Round 2 of the 2023 FA Cup and become the lowest ranked side still in the competition.
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00:00 I'm joined by Ben Smith, now manager of Ramsgate FC. Ben, thank you very much for joining us.
00:06 I think we've all seen the clips from Saturday's win, both celebrating on the pitch and back
00:11 in the dressing room. Can you just put into words what this win means for you and the
00:15 team?
00:16 I think on Match of the Day they said it was a once in a decade opportunity and I think
00:24 they've actually underplayed it there. 25 years since the first round was in Fannett,
00:30 it just means everything to the local community to have that moment and to leave that legacy
00:35 is what you get involved in football for. So to share that so early in my tenure as
00:43 manager at Ramsgate with the supporters and staff and the local community has just been
00:49 fantastic.
00:50 Absolutely, and quite an emotional time for many as well. Am I right in saying you might
00:53 have shed a tear after the final whistle?
00:56 Yeah, my phone blew up after the final whistle. It was crazy. It was pitch invasions and just
01:09 getting hugged by everyone and then seeing your nearest and dearest there at the grounds.
01:14 It was quite emotional.
01:16 Absolutely, but let's talk a bit about the game itself then. So at half-time it's 1-1,
01:22 a brilliant start to the game. Can you give us a bit of an indication of what you might
01:25 have said to the boys at half-time?
01:26 I felt that we'd played ourselves into the game. The first 15 minutes I think you could
01:35 see the players were adjusting to the level that we were up against. Normally at the level
01:42 we play at, the players certainly in midfield would have an extra two or three touches than
01:47 they could get away with in this game. I think after a period of adjustment in that first
01:52 10-15 minutes, I think we really got to grips with the game. Then after the goal, you could
01:59 see that there were real chinks in their armour. I think we really highlighted their weaknesses
02:07 and at half-time it was all positive. We asked for a certain style of play in order to really
02:16 deal with their weaknesses and highlight them a little bit more. I thought we could get
02:21 joy and in the end we scored a goal off the training pitch, which was fantastic. It's
02:27 always nice when that happens. Then we've had quite a few chances on the break, a goal
02:32 disallowed. So the second half played out exactly how we wanted it to, which was great.
02:41 Absolutely, exactly how you wanted it to. Lee Martin and TJ D'Adamo are getting the
02:44 two goals there. I think another player to highlight really is your man between the posts
02:49 as well. He got some good saves, especially in the last few minutes.
02:52 Tom Hadler, we brought him in from the High League. He's a made stone, won the Conference
02:59 South with them, he's played the Conference National, they've got football league experience
03:03 with Gillingham. He's actually an ex-student of mine when I was on teaching placement,
03:08 way back at the start of my career, some 14, 15 years ago. Tom was there and he was in
03:15 the football team, the school football team that I was involved with. So to go full circle
03:19 and have Tom with us now, passing his experience on to the younger people at the club and putting
03:25 in performances like that, just shows the level of quality that he has and shows how
03:32 well we've done at Ramsgate to bring in such experienced players that are still able to
03:38 put in those type of performances.
03:39 Brilliant stuff. I think I wanted to ask about you yourself. You joined the team earlier
03:44 this year in May. It's been quite a good start to your tenure as manager of this club. Even
03:49 in the league, sitting sixth at the moment, just six games played but five wins from that.
03:53 It's quite a good start.
03:55 Yeah, fantastic start. When you consider that we've kept two players from last year's squad,
04:03 it was a brave move to get rid of that many players. The supporters had already built
04:12 rapport with those players that had been there for some years. But sometimes it's nice to
04:17 have a clean break and start anew. I think this cup competition and the FA Trophy, we
04:25 had 12 cup games in a row at one stage. That's given us a real opportunity to lay the foundations,
04:33 put the seeds into what we think we can become as a side. We've got a long way to go. But
04:40 moments like Saturday, they're only going to bring the group closer and help us towards
04:47 our aims of promotion.
04:49 Of course. Now, just before we wrap up, Wimbledon, drawn yesterday. What was the reaction from
04:54 the team? I think many people wanted to see another home game, get 3,000 more people down
04:59 to the stadium in Ramsgate. But it's been drawn away. What's your reaction to that?
05:03 I've been looking for an away tie. A big club away. We've got a League Two club. Hopefully
05:12 the TV gives us the credit we're due and we get the TV rights for the game, one of the
05:20 terrestrial TV programmes. It'll be a fantastic day. AFC Wimbledon, it's in London, it's close
05:27 enough for us to get a lot of support there. Hopefully it'll be another magical day. We've
05:35 taken this one game at a time. We were underdogs against Woking. I said we had a 20% chance
05:41 against Woking. We've probably got a 10% chance now against AFC Wimbledon. But we go there
05:47 with nothing to fear. The supporters will have a great day, no matter what happens.
05:53 Let's see. I asked the boys in the first qualifying game to show the supporters some
06:02 magic at the FA Cup. At the moment we're daring to dream.
06:06 Absolutely. One thing's for certain is that the supporters will be 100% behind you. Ben,
06:11 very best of luck.