Kentish Football 
There will always be hiccups and bumps along the way, warns Wells boss Martin Larkin
Thursday 11th November 2010
TUNBRIDGE WELLS manager Martin Larkin says he wants his side to enjoy a lengthy run in the FA Carlsberg Vase this season, writes Stephen McCartney.
Hellenic League Division One East side Holyport arrive at Culverden Stadium in the Second Round on Saturday, but despite playing one league higher than their visitors, Larkin expects a tough game against a side that are in third place in their league with one league defeat in nine league outings.
“We’ve had them watched twice by our scouting group so we know a little bit about them,” Larkin told www.kentishfootball.co.uk.
“They play in a pretty good league, it’s pretty strong. They attack very well and score quite a few goals and they’re certainly going to be of a decent standard.
“They’ve won away from home in previous rounds against decent sides so they’re obviously going to be very confident.
“It will be a decent journey for them around the M25 to ours so I’m sure they’ll enjoy the day and be set up ready to go so we need to be at our best on Saturday to get a result.”
Tunbridge Wells go into the FA Carlsberg Vase tie on the back of a 5-1 home defeat to local rivals Sevenoaks Town in the Kent League Cup - having won the first leg 1-0 at Greatness Park.
“It all came to a smashing halt to be honest,” admitted Larkin. “All credit goes to them, they had a game plan and they adapted to it very well and they came out of the blocks flying and deserved to win the game to be honest. We had no qualms about that. We’ll make no excuses whatsoever. We weren’t up for the day and they took advantage of that.”
With his side sitting in the top eight with 15 points from 8 games, Larkin admitted his side dropped standards against Keith Levett’s side.
He said: “We’re trying to bang into our guys heads that week in week out standards have got to be achieved. If you relax for one minute in this league you’re going to get punished. Unfortunately all of our lads relaxed and Sevenoaks took advantage of it.”
Larkin demands a positive reaction against Holyport. The Maidenhead based side have won two away ties in the competition 1-0 and will be looking to cause an upset at Culverden Stadium in a game that the Berkshire side describe as “probably the most important game in the club’s history.”
He said: “We want a decent run in the Vase. We want to go as far as we can. It ‘s a day you’ve got to treat with respect because it’s a national competition.
“We didn’t win a game in the Vase last year, we’ve won three this year and if we win the third round we’re only one win away from going the furthest the club has been.
“These are the little goals we’ve set ourselves but we have to be at our very best on Saturday, mentally and physically and put our game plan into place.
“If we switch off for a second then we’re going to lose the game. We have to make sure we’re at it from the very first minute we arrive at the ground and all that starts from the training session tonight.”
Larkin added: “We had a shocking result against Sevenoaks but that shouldn’t mean the last three months get forgotten about.
“Our first six games last year wee won only three matches, this year we’ve won 10 including winning away to a Ryman League club (Dulwich Hamlet) in the FA Cup and we’ve only lost one league game. We’re well matched in the league with games-in-hand and we’re still in the FA Vase where we hope to go into the national level so if someone offered this at the start of the season we’d snap their hands off.
“Everyone needs to realise that we’ve had a great start to the season and the platform’s there. We’re looking to build the club and there will always be little hiccups and bumps along the way. We just have to make sure we don’t over react when we hit those bumps and that we learn from them and build and make ourselves stronger.
“We had a little chat after the game at Sevenoaks and I said to them when those days happen it’s important the bond as a group in the changing room becomes stronger and we’ll make sure that happens this week and we’ll look to go and build on that because the last three months have been very, very good in terms of results and the way we’ve played - people shouldn’t forget that!”
Visit Tunbridge Wells’ website: www.tunbridgewellsfc.co.uk
Tunbridge Wells v Holyport
FA Carlsberg Vase Second Round
Saturday 13th November 2010
Kick Off 3:00pm
At Culverden Stadium, Culverden Down, Tunbridge Wells, Kent
Red Dragon I.T. Ltd