Ks under orders to perfom

3:49pm Friday 4th July 2008

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Kingstonian boss Alan Dowson has warned his players their first-team places are assured on a game-by-game basis only.

The 38-year-old returned from a Spanish break on Thursday morning to take his first pre-season training session ahead of the new campaign that evening and has been impressed.

The squad have been told they have next week's double-header friendly with Chertsey Town to stake their first claim to a starting slot.

And Dowson, who has retained the services of Jon Coke, Phil Williams and Wayne Finnie in recent weeks, believes the players will only have themselves to blame if they do not feature in his starting line-up this season.

"Players drop themselves in my book. It is not down to me how they perform as individuals," he said.

"If you play well, you will stay in the team. If you don't, you won't. It is as simple as that.

"I told them the fittest will get the first crack of the whip against Chertsey and then it is up to them whether they stay in the side or not."

Kingstonian have drawn Whitstable Town in the FA Trophy preliminary round, and Ashford Town or Leatherhead in the first qualifying round of the FA Cup.

Ks famously lifted the FA Trophy twice under legendary boss Geoff Chapple, and Dowson reckons it is about time his current crop lived up to the club's proud cup tradition.

"I was abolutely devastated when we went out of the FA Cup to Eastbourne Town last year. It is the worst I have felt after a football match in my life," he added.

"We will be taking the cup competitions very seriously. You only have to look at the likes of Staines Town and Leatherhead to see what a good run can do to a club.

"We've got a good tradition in the FA Trophy and FA Cup. Promotion is the priority, but I want a high-profile cup run to put alongside it."