It’s an opportunity to make a good day into a great day, says giant-killer Martin Larkin

Wednesday 08th September 2010

TUNBRIDGE WELLS boss Martin Larkin says his side must “play their game of their lives” if they are to emulate their previous FA Cup giant-killing - at Carshalton Athletic on Saturday, writes Stephen McCartney.

Larkin and his assistant Brad Sandeman watched the whole 90 minutes of Carshalton’s 3-2 home win over Tonbridge Angels in the Ryman Premier League last night to prepare for the First Qualifying Round tie.

Despite the Wells dumping Ryman League Division One South side Dulwich Hamlet out of the competition in the previous round, Larkin’s scouting trip to Colston Avenue to watch Saturday’s opponents in action gave the manager plenty of food for thought.

When asked what he learnt about Mark Butler’s side, Larkin told www.kentishfootball.co.uk: “That they’re very good to be honest! Anyone who comes from a goal down against Angels and wins are going to be decent. The shape they played, they had some very good players, a lot of pace going forward, with a lot of ability. The three guys who played in the middle were all very good on the ball.

“At the end of the day they’re a Ryman Premier League team aren’t they? They’re a Ryman Premier League team for a reason, they’re all very good players so we need to be at our very best just to compete on Saturday.”

The Carshalton faithful (as well as their Tonbridge counterparts) were very vocal last night - but Larkin says his players will relish playing in such a big FA Cup tie.

“We’ve got some guys who can mix it physically,” he said. “I didn’t think it was any more physical than the Kent League - it was just a lot quicker!

“At that level, when you’ve got budgets involved, you can have good players going forward. The guy on the left (Chris Henry, who capitalised on a mistake from Tonbridge defender Sonny Miles to level the score at 1-1 just before half-time) and the guy down the right were very quick and the lads down the middle, the front three were a right handful.”

But after their giant-killing at Dulwich Hamlet in the last round, Larkin insists his side will not be travelling to Colston Avenue just for a good day out.

He said: “I said to the lads this is not a Cup final, there’s no medals involved, it’s the next game. We will apply ourselves properly. It’s not taking it as a nice day out and go and enjoy ourselves and see what happens. We’re going to train properly this week and put a plan together.

“We’re under no illusions. If they turn it on, we’re going to be in a spot of bother, so hopefully we can catch them on a day when they underestimate us a little bit and then seven or eight of our lads have their games of their lives.

“Carshalton are a very good side and we have to compete before we can think about winning the game.”

Hove resident Larkin added: “The lads aren’t bothered about playing in front of big crowds. There was a lot of noise last night but we’ve got a couple of lads who love banter with the crowd and they will use that to inspire them. There’s two ways you can go, you can go into your shell or use it to inspire you and crack on and we’ll use the crowd and the noise to get ourselves to a level where we need to compete.”

Tunbridge Wells arrive at Colston Avenue with five clean sheets from their first six competitive games of the season and Larkin will want to keep things tight on Saturday.

Larkin said: “There’s no league points at stake, they can relax themselves and go out and express themselves, that’s what we want them to do.

“They’re a very motivated bunch so they want to be involved in these games and they relish these games. We will get them to fire themselves up and then we’ll tell them to go and relax.

“If we keep hold of the ball for a long part of the game and get over the first 20 minute barrage that no doubt will come our way, like it did against Dulwich, it we can come out of that unscathed then you never know what can happen.

“We have to respect the opposition and encounter the areas where they were strong on Tuesday.”

“It will certainly be a buzz, it’s a proper non-league football ground. It will be good to get involved in a big tie like that. At the same time we’ve got a job to do so we need to make sure we do that.

“It’s an opportunity to make a good day into a great day. It’s challenging trying to do that but if we can bring them back to our place on Tuesday night it will be a fantastic achievement and something that we’re aiming to do.”

Visit Tunbridge Wells’ website: www.tunbridgewellsfc.co.uk

Carshalton Athletic v Tunbridge Wells

FA Cup (Sponsored by E.ON) First Qualifying Round

Saturday 11th September 2010

Kick Off 3:00pm

At War Memorial Sports Ground, Colston Avenue, Carshalton, Surrey SM5 2PN