Steve McKimm refused to take Cray Valley PM’s FA Trophy third qualifying round tie at Ramsgate lightly on Saturday.
A goal from midfielder Matthew Vigor and forward Freddie Parker’s brace in the first 30 minutes were enough to lead the Millers to a 3-1 victory at Southwood.
While Cray Valley now are a division above Ben Smith’s side, the two teams had been battling it out for the Isthmian South East title last term.
But Millers manager McKimm said sometimes even more analysis is required ahead of playing lower-division opposition.
“It was very comfortable,” he reflected on their win. “We knew what to expect from Ramsgate.
“We had a couple of players out, meaning that Danny (Waldren) had to play centre-half but we knew what we were going to get from them - they’re a good side that pass the ball well. But once we stopped that, we capitalised on their mistakes, let’s get it right, which was good for us.
“I think they’ve only had one or two shots on our goal. We did our homework on them very thoroughly and we didn’t take it lightly.
Report: Ramsgate 1-3 Cray Valley PM
“Just because you’re the league above, sometimes, you have to do even harder analysis and I thought we did well. At times, when we had to break, we broke.
“We scored our goals and it was quite a comfortable afternoon, to be honest.”
Cray Valley’s first two goals came from mistakes but McKimm was eager to point out their third - Parker’s second - had come after a well-worked move.
He said: “Freddie has been out injured for a couple of weeks so Coombesy (Adam Coombes) has come in.
“He has done ever so well. It was a difficult decision today, but Freddie got the two goals and capitalised on a mistake for the first goal.
“The third goal, this is where people
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Steve Mackimm