Tunbridge Wells boss Martin Larkin issues rallying cry ahead of big weekend

Thursday 26th August 2010

TUNBRIDGE WELLS boss Martin Larkin says his locally based players are more than capable of producing a giant killing on Saturday by knocking Dulwich Hamlet out of the FA Cup, writes Stephen McCartney.

Larkin, who was speaking to www.kentishfootball.co.uk is relishing the Preliminary Round clash at Culverden Stadium.

“Dulwich Hamlet are a very big club in non-league football,” he said. “Our chairman lived and grew up in that area as well so he’s very excited about it. They’re a big Ryman South club so all the lads are very excited. We just want to get the game on now.

“They are a team that will probably be challenging for the play-off’s in the Ryman South and we’re a team trying to get into that top six in the Kent League so it will be a shock (if we beat them). But we’re more than capable of doing something.

“We tend to have our best performances for teams that are bigger and better than us. We’ve shown that last year and in previous years.

“I don’t think there’s many boys in our changing room that have had an opportunity to knock out a Ryman club in the FA Cup before, so we’ll definitely get about them and see what we can do.

“We’ve had them watched so we’ll get our game plan sorted out in training tonight and if we can administer that on Saturday and if Dulwich aren’t quite at the races then there’s a very good chance we can do something.”

Hove resident Larkin has issued a rallying cry for all supporters to flock through the Culverden turnstiles to witness a giant-killing.

“We want the locals to come out and support us,” he said. “We’ve built everything over the last eighteen months on local lads so it’s a chance to see a local team with local players against a big Ryman League club in the FA Cup.

“If they thought about coming down to watch us but haven’t quite done it, Saturday is the day to do it because you can’t get better than a FA Cup tie. We expect Dulwich will hopefully bring a few down as well.

“Hopefully we’ll get a decent crowd because the lads will respond to noise from behind the goal. The way our ground is set up, noise flows down from that terracing so the more noise the better so hopefully we can do our job on the pitch.”

Reflecting on his side’s Kent League campaign so far, Larkin has seen two goal-less draws against Beckenham Town and Erith Town and progressed through to this round of the FA Cup following their 1-0 win at Mile Oak two weeks ago.

He said: “We’ve been very good defensively, that’s what we’ve set our stall out to be at the start of the season.

“The two teams we’ve played so far, I certainly wouldn’t have picked out if I was allowed to for the first two games of the season. They were two very good teams.

“We’ve kept Beckenham - who are the best footballing team in the League - quiet for 90 minutes and we went away to Erith Town and kept Billy Shinners, Rikki Cable and Leroy Huggins quiet as well. We’ve got to be delighted about that. That’s what we’ve based our game on really. We want to be tight defensively.”

If his side avoid a draw on Saturday, Tunbridge Wells can look forward to another lucrative home game - against arch-rivals Sevenoaks Town - on Bank Holiday Monday (30 August, 3pm).

“To be honest that was all I was thinking about at the start of the week, the Sevenoaks game, that’s the one that’s important to me,” said Larkin.

“As the week went on, I was getting more excited about the FA Cup game and that’s the priority really. That’s the one that comes first, we’re going to give that a good go and we’ll see where we are Saturday night with players fitness, injuries and then we will attack Monday afternoon.

“It’s a bigger game for us Monday to be fair. We’re obviously at home, it’s a big local derby Bank Holiday Monday so we hope for a decent crowd and the hope is we go and win the game. It will be a tough ask as they had a fantastic result against Erith & Belvedere last week.

“Sevenoaks are a new side (with a new manager in Keith Levett) but we’ve had them watched and hopefully we’ll get something to go and attack them. If we can win that it’s five points going into the next month of the season unbeaten in the league. We’ll be pleased with that but at the same time they obviously haven’t got a game on Saturday so they’ll be rested up and fired up so we need to be at our best on Monday.”

A rousing pre-match team-talk from Larkin inspired his side to a 2-1 home win over Sevenoaks last April as goals from Danny Powell and a late Andy McMath penalty ensured it was one win from four tussles against their nearest rivals last term.

Larkin may be a quietly spoken man off-the-field, but his hyped up team-talk, where he demanded that his side “take it with the scuff of the neck,” and that “we’re all in this together,” and that the team in red showed “desire” and that “work-rate brings rewards,” sent his troops ready for a battle that Sevenoaks’ players couldn’t cope with.

Reflecting on that game, Larkin said: “You’ve been to a few of our games against Sevenoaks and they’re always good. We’ve obviously got a few lads who have played for both sides, we’ve got three or four who have played for Sevenoaks and our guys will be very, very fired up.

“We were excellent at home on that Tuesday night. I asked for a lot more from our guys that night and we were superb and we will have to get to the same levels of intensity and desire and match it up with our passing game.”

When asked if he gives similar team-talks against other Kent League sides, Larkin replied, “Not every game. You can’t be doing it every single week because the guys would just switch off.

“At that point of the season that was an important game for us. We had to go and win it and we did.

“We won’t beat around the bush, we weren’t happy to watch them finish above ourselves in the league and get to a Cup final last year. It certainly made us sit up and think that’s not should be going on in the local area so we’re very keen to get off to a good start this year.

“We’ve got a nice little fixture list coming up over the next couple of months to pick some points up, which they did last year.

“We’ll be keen to win the game because it’s a local derby and it does mean a lot to the lads in the changing room. We will let them know who we are.”

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

Tunbridge Wells v Dulwich Hamlet

FA Cup (Sponsored by E.ON) Preliminary Round

Saturday 28th August 2010

Kick Off 3:00pm

At Culverden Stadium, Culverden Down, Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN4 9SG