We're a lot more ahead of schedule of our long-term plan, says Tunbridge Wells boss Martin Larkin

Thursday 14th April 2011

TUNBRIDGE WELLS boss Martin Larkin says the prospect of meeting one of the county’s big boys next season is one of the motivations behind winning the Kent Senior Trophy Final on Sunday, writes Stephen McCartney.

The Wells lock horns with Erith Town, having defeated Phoenix Sports, VCD Athletic and Holmesdale en-rote to the Park View Road showpiece.

Larkin’s side sit in seventh place in the Safety Net Associates Kent League table, with a record of 11 wins, 5 draws and 10 defeats - two points and two places behind the Dockers.

“We are looking forward to it,” said Larkin. “We’ve trained well so far this week. We’ve got another session tonight and one Saturday, so everyone’s very excited.

“We train twice a week anyway so we’ll meet up on Saturday and just go through a few things and watch the FA Cup Semi-Final (the Manchester derby) together on the telly.”

When asked how the Kent Senior Trophy will be won, Larkin replied, “It’s a case whichever team embraces the day I suppose. Cup Final’s are there to be enjoyed and that’s what we’ll be stressing to the players. There’s no point worrying about things. It’s a case of let’s go and enjoy ourselves.

“We set a target at the start of the season to reach a Cup Final and we’ve done that so there’s no point freezing about it now.”

In previous years, the winners of the Kent Senior Trophy enter the Kent Senior Cup the following season, and Larkin can see the positives of meeting one of Kent’s leading lights.

“We said that before the semi-final, that’s my understanding as well. There’s been chat of the big teams coming back into it, the Gillingham’s, Charlton’s and Millwall’s - they are affiliated to the Kent County Football Association so it’s a nice little incentive.

“The team’s that have won it (Kent Senior Trophy) for the last three years have all won promotion as well so it will be nice for a Kent League team to go into that Kent Senior Cup and pull one of the big boys.

“It’s certainly a motivation. As a group within the four walls of the changing room, we won’t be short of any desire come Sunday.”

Looking forward to the big game, Larkin said, “It’s a stepping stone. We’ve got a long-term plan what we want to do and success breeds success and that’s what we want to do. We’re a lot more ahead of schedule of our long-term plan so we should take advantage of being in a cup final and we’ll give it our best shot.

“It’s going to be very tough on Sunday. We’re very respectful of Erith Town. I’ve watched Erith Town play and they’ve got some very good players. We need to play at our best to beat them as they are a strong team.”

Reflecting on his side’s league position, the Wells boss remains disappointed.

He said: “The league point of view I’m pretty disappointed to be honest. We had a big week where we could have nailed fourth place. We haven’t managed to do that but results have gone our way so we’re still in the race for it and Erith Town are there as well. Both teams haven’t had a good run in the league.”

Larkin says his side will be well supported at Welling on Sunday.

“We went to Dulwich and Carshalton in the FA Cup with a lot of people following us and we had that in the FA Vase as well. There’s two coaches coming up and people coming from other area’s. All the players have got loads of people coming. I won’t be surprised if there’s not 200 people coming up from Tunbridge Wells and it will be well supported by other club’s in the League as well.

“It’s a kind of ground that holds quite a few but when you get 500 in there it seems quite full and noisy really.

“When we go to those kind of places this year we’ve done very well. We won at Dulwich Hamlet and we were very close to getting a result against an exceptional Carshalton Athletic team in front of a big crowd.”

When asked which team has the favourites tag on Sunday, Larkin replied, “It depends how you look at it. They’ve got some very good players. We’ve also got some exceptional players. It all depends who attacks the occasion the best really. It’s a difficult one. I think they are just about favourites as they’ve got the power going forward but we’re not going there to make the numbers up.

“We’ll be looking to play well and compete and if we keep a clean sheet, we’ll do well. We’ve scored 95 goals in all competitions this year so we’re going up there to win the game.”

www.kentishfootball.co.uk will be covering this game

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

Tunbridge Wells v Erith Town

Umbro Kent Senior Trophy Final

Sunday 17th April 2011

Kick Off 3:00pm

At Park View Road, Welling, Kent DA16 1SY