Sunday sees Larkfield & New Hythe in their first senior final as they face Isuzu FA Vase Finalists Whitstable Town in the DFDS Kent Trophy Final at the Gallagher Stadium in Maidstone, a venue that former Stones captain and now Larks manager Mickey Phillips knows well…
Speaking to KSN this week, Phillips told KSN, “It’s a great achievement for the Club. We’ve never been there before; it’s our first season in the SCEFL Premier – it’s a shame that we fell away towards the end unfortunately, for various reasons, but still it’s not been a bad season, and with a Cup Final to look forward to on Sunday, hopefully we can go and make history and win the cup for everyone involved with the club!”
After leading Larkfield to the Premier Division, Phillips took over from previous manager Danny Lye and has steered the Larks to a mid-table position.
“I have enjoyed it and yes it has been frustrating at times,” Phillips admitted.
“I’m learning with every game about my players, the squad of players I’ve got around me. Danny did a great job, but now it’s time for me to step up to the plate and get the right people in who can go and do exactly what Faversham have done this season, where they’ve been so consistent!”
In midweek Tommy Warrilow’s side all but sealed the SCEFL title with a 2-1 win at Larkfield which left the home boss reflecting, “If you look at it we’ve beaten them 1-0 away earlier in the season and we were unlucky on Tuesday; it could’ve gone either way I thought!”
“So, we just need to make sure that we’ve got the right calibre of players for next season and hopefully go and win the league next season – that’s our ambition and that’s what I’ll do my best to do!”
“If you bring it into perspective, I guess we have made massive steps forward this season; first time in this division but in truth, I believe we’ve failed this season as we’ve failed not reached the Play-Offs and that is not good enough for what we expect!”
“That said, getting to the Cup Final is a big achievement, never been done by the Club before, so like I say, you’ve got to put things into perspective and look at the bigger picture!”
“It is an achievement for the football club, and everyone will enjoy the day. Hopefully, it’s also a base for the club to build on for the future.”
“There are plans for the new stadium and winning a cup is going to put more notice out for Larkfield isn’t it? The chairman has got big ambitions for the Football Club when the stadium does eventually finally get built; it will be such a good location and catchment area to attract better players should we be able to push on.”
“The foundations will be there for the Football Club to move on and to hopefully go up through the divisions – as we said this year has been a big learning curve for everyone involved in the Club and we need to look to build on that going into next season!”