mekki

Mekki banks on bounceback

Adam Mekki’s third goal of the season was a mere consolation for the Fleet on Saturday but he brushed that aside to insist on the importance of Tuesday – and indeed every game – from here on in.

“It was a rare occasion [to score a header] and I think maybe if that goal happens at 1-1, even maybe to bring it to 2-1, it gives us a bit of hope,” he said. “But it wasn’t meant to be and the goal stands for nothing really, apart from that Dorking don’t get a clean sheet.

“But it’s one of those we’ve just got to move on, brush it aside and focus on Tuesday now. I think all the games now [are important]. It is tight up there, we had a game in hand or two and there’s some good teams up there – ourselves, Dorking, Maidstone. They’re all big games and especially now it’s going to be another Kent derby on Tuesday night. We just need to give it everything and that’s where we can bounce back and that will be a real test of character.”

Mekki came into Saturday’s game at half-time, with Fleet already a man down following Sefa Kahraman’s sending-off. From the bench, Mekki and his fellow substitutes had a good view of the incident and he felt it was a harsh one.

“We were disappointed with the decision early on,” he said. “You’ve seen so many times, I think it’s Sefa’s first tackle of the game and even if it’s midway through, I think it’s harsh to give a yellow for the first one or the second one. In a game of this magnitude, for the referee to make that decision early on, it does influence it and it’s just disappointing we’re on the wrong end of it.

“It’s always tough when you go a man down so early on but credit to the lads. In the first half they just held in there and that’s what we tried to do, try to keep it tight, maybe get something towards the latter part of the game but the extra man made a difference when you play a top team like Dorking. We train every day, we work hard and we still had belief that at some point we could get something, even when we went to down to nine. The scoreline is disappointing and anyone looking at it will be frustrated.

“We had another penalty shout [when Rakish Bingham was] caught from behind but the referee’s given a corner. Raks has caught a sore one and he tried battling through it. He’s massive for us and the way we want to play so hopefully it’s nothing too serious.”

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