Mooney can score 25 goals for us, says Larkin

Wednesday 17th March 2010

MARTIN LARKIN says his side should be doing better considering the population of Tunbridge Wells, writes Stephen McCartney.

Larkin found losing 1-0 to local rivals Sevenoaks Town at Greatness Park last night a bitter pill to swallow, especially as his side dominated for large chunks of the game.

“We played all round the park, but we’re not an under 16 youth team, we’re a first team and it’s all about winning,” Larkin told www.kentishfootball.co.uk.

“It gets to a point where playing well doesn’t really matter because you just want to be winning. The boys are very positive. The boys that didn’t play well Saturday were exceptional (against Sevenoaks) and we’ve got to kick on now and produce that week-in-week-out.”

Last Saturday, Larkin’s side became the first team to lose a Bulmers Cider Kent League game at Fisher’s Champion Hill ground and after losing to Sevenoaks last night, Tunbridge Wells remain in tenth place in the table with 25 points from 22 league games.

“Saturday was a blow, we were expecting to go and win on Saturday,” explained Larkin.

“Fisher did very well to be fair to them but I expected to go there to win so to push on. We should’ve picked some points up (at Sevenoaks) but we haven’t so Saturday puts a little bit more pressure on us.

“We want to get into that top half, possibly top six. The club has finished tenth for the last two season’s so the target at the start of this season was to do better than the year before. That’s what it’s all about. Year in year can I do better than the year before?

“We’re on target for that but at the same time we want to break into the top half of the league that’s where a club our size needs to be. It’s a big town, I didn’t realise how big a town is. It’s twice the size of Tonbridge and they’re a very strong Ryman Premier League club. We need to work on that but the club’s going in the right direction.”

Like around half of Kent League clubs, Larkin is currently working without a playing budget, but he admits his side is not far off from where he wants them to be next season.

“We don’t need bundles of cash because I don’t think many people are going to have it,” he said.

One managerial casualty in the Kent League was Richie Radbourne, who quit Erith & Belvedere last Sunday evening, a couple of weeks after the Park View Road club decided to cut the budget entirely.

And Larkin said: “It was a shame Richie Radbourne resigned at Erith & Belvedere. He got through that initial period and was working hard there. He was under a lot of pressure. He had cash there and now he hasn’t got it at all.”

Larkin pins his hopes of climbing the table on Keelan Mooney, who is on a shared deal with Ryman Premier League neighbours Maidstone United.

“He’s finding what life in the Kent League is all about. He got kicked a few times!” said Larkin.

“He’s an exceptional talent. We see him in training, he’s deadly with the ball with his feet in the box. He scores goals for fun in training and we need to work out how we get the ball at his feet in front of goal. If we do that he will score a lot of goals.

“He is someone in my opinion who could score 25 goals in a Kent League season!”

Speaking about Mooney’s future, Larkin insists the striker will be donning the red shirt of Tunbridge Wells for the remainder of the season.

“He is with us,” said Larkin, who added, “If they need him they will call me and see what the deal is but as it stands at the minute, he is playing for us then he’ll be invited back to train with them, I would imagine, pre-season and we’ll invite him here as well and it will be where he feels happiest and where he can fulfil his potential.

“The Ryman Premier is a little bit too much for him. If Maidstone were in the Ryman South then he wouldn’t be here, he’d be playing for Maidstone every week.

“His exceptional, someone who we want to look after and hopefully he will enjoy his time with us.”

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

Tunbridge Wells v Erith Town

Bulmers Cider Kent League

Saturday 20th March 2010

Kick Off 3:00pm

At Culverden Stadium, Culverden Down, Tunbridge Wells, Kent