United boss talks up his side’s ability ahead of crunch encounter

Bethnal Green United boss Justin Gardner has called on his side to repeat the performance shown in Monday’s victory over Burnham Ramblers this Saturday in their crunch match against Enfield

United were in top form at Mile End Stadium earlier in the week as goals from Anton Stephenson and Tyler Devlin - his first senior strike for the Greens – earned a 2-0 win over Burnham Ramblers.

Monday’s victory leaves the East End club six points behind joint top Enfield but with a game in hand and Gardner believes his side can close the gap further this weekend and inflict a first league defeat of the season on their opponents.

“I would fancy us against anyone, but everyone will have to turn up this Saturday and give their all, like they did on Monday night,” the boss said.

“It’s a massive game and the biggest of the season. There are a lot of friends on either side and there is little between us.

“Of course I am going to say my team is better, but of course we have to respect them and we cannot afford anyone in our side to have an off day.

“If we stop their danger man from playing, if not we will be in for a long afternoon.”

United will head into this Saturday’s match full of confidence after Monday’s display, which Gardner described as ‘professional’.

“It was a really good game, with two teams playing good football. I was surprised with Burnham because I know the manager left and I heard they had quite a few young players, but they passed the ball around well,” he said.

“It was a professional performance from ourselves and I was pleased with how we played.”

It took 70 minutes for United to take the lead, when Anton Stephenson poked home from close range, with the second coming minutes before the end, after United broke from a Burnham corner and Devlin outpaced the Ramblers’ defence to slot home and seal the win.

“Leon Ryan was back from suspension and was outstanding,” Gardner said.

“He missed three games and was desperate to make an impression. His tackling, passing and his work-rate were superb, but it was a good team performance.

“It was great to see Anton find the net and hopefully he is now back to his best and will go on a scoring run and it was great to see Tyler score. He’s been banging them in for fun in the reserves and it’s great to see him do it for the first team.

“Everyone played their part and it was good to see new singing Stephen Wright making his debut in goal. He was a calming influence and what I liked is when we in the lead, he slowed the game down and didn’t rush.

“Jack Potten has been awesome in the absence of Ashley King (fluid in the knee) in goal, but it was a big match and in the end I went with experience.”