Sevenoaks bid to end their Tunbridge Wells jinx

“Tunbridge Wells, I’ve got to be honest, are bit of a bogey team to us in the league,” said Mr Diplock.

“We’ve never actually played them in the Cup, but in the league, I don’t know what it is.  Whether they’ve got a jinx on us, probably they play better than us on the day.

“I can’t remember the last time when we beat them!”

Sevenoaks opened their Bulmers Cider Kent League campaign with a 2-1 defeat at Erith Town – whilst Tunbridge Wells, now managed by Martin Larkin, thumped whipping boys Sporting Bengal 6-0 to top the table on the opening day.

“Last week they were a little bit unfortunate really to lose at Erith Town,” said Mr Diplock.

“We scored first, quite a good goal, and then they pulled a goal back and then they got a goal from a set piece; the shortest man on the field headed it into our net.  We had two or three blokes that were well above him but that’s the way it goes sometimes.”

He added: “I think a draw would have been a fair result.  We hit the bar twice and we had a couple of chances when we could have put it away and we didn’t.”

With a crowd of over 200 expected at Culverden Stadium on Saturday, the Sevenoaks secretary will be hoping that the club book a preliminary round tie at Ryman League Division One South Dulwich Hamlet in two weeks time.

“If we can get through, we’d be quite pleased,” he said.  “All I can say is we’ll obviously try our best.”

Sevenoaks stunned Hamlet’s league rivals Folkestone Invicta in the preliminary round last season, with an enjoyable 4-4 draw at Greatness Park.

And Mr Diplock added: “We normally go through the first round, the only time we never do is when we draw Herne Bay, another jinx team.

“It could go either way to be honest.”

Meanwhile, Wells boss Larkin, who is getting married today, expects more of a contest than last Saturday’s opponents.

“Sevenoaks will provide much more of a test, and the boys are well aware of that,” he told www.tunbridgewellsfc.co.uk.

“We obviously have a couple of lads that played for them last year, so it should be a good battle.

“Hopefully we can start well and get what we would hope will be a large crowd behind us.

“We did well against them last year, so it would be nice to continue that trend this year.”

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

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

Visit Sevenoaks Town’s website: www.sevenoakstownfc.org

Tunbridge Wells  v  Sevenoaks Town
FA Cup (Sponsored by E.ON) Extra Preliminary Round
Saturday 15^th August 2009
Kick Off 3:00pm
At Culverden Stadium, Culverden Down, Tunbridge Wells, Kent