We need more experience in the ranks, says Larkin

Thursday 08th April 2010

TUNBRIDGE WELLS boss Martin Larkin says he is searching for more experienced players next season, writes Stephen McCartney.

The west Kent outfit have slumped into the bottom five in the Bulmers Cider Kent League table and Larkin is already planning for next season as his side have only five games left to play.

“We’ve not got the biggest squad in the world and when you lose players to injuries and illness it affects us quite badly,” Larkin told www.kentishfootball.co.uk.

“When we’ve got everyone out then we’ve absolutely fine. We’ve shown this year we’ve played some really nice stuff. We just need to be more clinical in front of goal.

“The one thing you can’t coach is experience. The more games the better really and that goes for us, the management team. It’s our first year together, the three of us, we’ve learnt a lot and we’ll be certainly addressing things over the summer and we’d be a much better set-up for next year.

When asked what he has learnt during his first full season in charge of a Kent League club, Larkin replied, “We’ve certainly learnt about not taking games for granted in terms of when you’re playing teams in the lower reaches of the league, which is where we are at the moment.

“Every game is an important game. It’s about consistency. Sometimes you need to sacrifice that little bit of quality for a bit more hard work and we need to do that.

“We need to bring in a couple more experienced people that work a bit harder to contrast with our skilful attacking players so we’ve got that better mix really.

“Our home record is very good but our away record is bad and we need that bit more strength and experience in the middle of the park.”

The Wells have lost their last two games to Norton Sports and Deal Town but tonight local rivals Sevenoaks Town arrive at Culverden Stadium for yet another battle.

A solitary strike from Billy Shinners won the game for Simon Jones’ side when the two sides locked horns at Greatness Park 23 days ago.

And Sevenoaks needed a replay to knock Larkin’s men out of the FA Cup at the first hurdle back in August.

“I thought we played very well,” reflected Larkin. “We played some really nice stuff. It’s the kind of run we’re in a little bit at the moment, where we made one mistake and they scored one goal from it and we weren’t able to punish them with all the play we had.

“It was the same again on Saturday at Deal, we made two mistakes from set-pieces and gave them their two goals.

“We dominated for the rest of the match and didn’t secure more goals when we were on top and that’s something we’re tying to address at the moment really.”

Larkin hopes for a large turnout for tonight’s battle of West Kent at Culverden Stadium tonight.

“It’s our biggest game of the year for the lads,” he said. “It was meant to be on Bank Holiday Monday, which would have been a bumper crowd, but we haven’t got that now so hopefully people will come out and support us.

“It’s a bit different the game being on a Thursday night, it’s not what we’re used to.

“I will say to (my players) before the game, we’ve been playing really well at the moment, without picking up the wins.

“There’s no better way to turn it around than a derby game. The pattern of play goes out of the window a touch, it’s a little more rushed and a bit more physical being a derby game.

“There’s no better time getting one on the board than at home to Sevenoaks.”

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

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

Tunbridge Wells v Sevenoaks Town

Bulmers Cider Kent League

Thursday 8th April 2010

Kick Off 7:45pm

At Culverden Stadium, Culverden Down, Tunbridge Wells, Kent