In the build up to the FA Carlsberg Vase Final, KSN have been granted unprecedented access to to Tunbridge Wells squad that will be facing Spennymoor United on May 4th.
In the latest of our special series of interviews, we speak to one of the defensive rocks on which the Vase run has been based – a central defender described in the clubs own player profiles as a “powerful and very quick central defender who gives his all for the team” – it’s SCOTT WHIBLEY…
It’s taken manager Martin Larkin just short of five years to take the Wells from Kent League to Wembley and Scott’s been a big part of that as he explained. “I’ve been with the club for just over four years now on and off – I’ve left twice and come back – once to Crowborough and once to Erith which was a bad move by me,” he admitted.
“But I was only 23 and young and wanted to play week in and week out which is something that I wasn’t at the time. But now I’m a lot more settled and have matured a lot more.”
“I joined about six months into Martin’s time and he is absolutely top drawer – you can’t fault his training and his methods; he’s so thorough with everything and I cant fault him one bit. He might look unflappable but he’s a big kid inside – in training he’s one of the boys. He joins in with everything and gets the banter going – he really is a top drawer manager as well as a really nice guy; I haven’t played for a better manager before!”
Along with many of his team mates, Scott still can’t believe what the side has achieved. “It hasn’t sunk in at all what we’ve achieved – my mates are more excited about it at the moment than I am! I don’t think for a minute that it won’t sink in properly until one of the days before when we’re really in the game zone and getting prepared. And then when we turn up at the ground and see what a truly magnificent stadium we’re going to be playing in it will probably sink in then!”
“I have only been to Wembley once since its been rebuilt – to see Gillingham beat Shrewsbury three years ago in the Play Offs with Simeon Jackson scoring in the last minute. I won’t score a goal that late…” he said smiling, “but Perry (Spackman) might though!”
“Seriously though, the only pressure from any one at the club for a good run in the competition came from ourselves as we know that the ability that we’ve got around the squad. And you know in near enough every round, we’ve been written off and we’ve just beaten them back and beaten them away and we are where we are because we deserve to be – whether it be extra time, penalties or playing people off the park!”
“So for us it’s not really that unexpected because we believe in ourselves and we believe that we can beat Spennymoor – they can pay all the money that they want to, but money won’t buy you team spirit that we’ve got!”Scott then talked us through from the last eight – a tie that so nearly saw the dream die. “3-2 down at Larkhall with ten minutes to go and the big man (Andy Irvine) comes up with the goods but that’s the sort of tournament he’s had for us.”
“I think he’s scored seven or eight times and they’ve all been massive goals – and then there was young Jack comes on and scores an absolute good goal in injury time. Then came Hadleigh and Larks had them scouted and the report suggested that they were going to be an absolute top drawer side as they had confidence strikers and the like and to be fair we expected a lot more than what we got from them! They didn’t turn up for one reason or another and Andy punished them again.”
“Then Shildon – first leg fantastic and then the second leg…. thing is that during that game, I said to Bourney (skipper Jason Bourne) half way through the second half “we’re going to win this” – I knew that we’d get one and then get two!”
“In my mind I kept thinking about the Larkhall game and the way we came back in that game – I always felt that once we got one we’d get two and that there was no way that they’d keep us out for another half hour!”
“To be fair to them, they were a good side Shildon – the best team that we’ve played in the time that I’ve been at the club, but what’s done is done now and it’s us who are going to Wembley on May 4th.”
Its been 13 years since Deal Town became the first Kent League side to lift the Vase, something that Scott believes Tunbridge Wells 2013 can match.
He said, “It’s an achievement to get to the final and if we can emulate what Deal did, it will be massive especially for us as no one gets a penny to play here and at that time I’m told that they were spending a lot of money at the time at Deal.”
“For us if we won it, I’d like to hope that unlike Deal we can possibly push on and go higher simply because we’d be the first club to win it without a budget! This year we’ve already won the Kent Senior Trophy and but for the ridiculous fixture back log I’m sure that we could have won promotion, but we didn’t get any pressure on that score from anyone except from ourselves.”
“I suppose that you have to say that in a way our success in the Vase will probably cost us in the League as having 14 games to play in 29 days is just plain daft!”
“We have a big squad and everyone who’s stepped out wearing a Wells shirt has done a good job for the club – it also gives everyone the incentive to go out and try to earn their shirt for Wembley so hopefully by the end of the season we can finish with two cup winners medals!”
“I just hope that on the day we do the basics – do the simple things; play the game and not the occasion; if it has to go it goes and just play your normal game. If you see someone who’s not quite there, get around them and encourage them as that’s what this team does as normal as the morale and the togetherness is second to none as that’s what we’re all about at Tunbridge Wells!”
Join us tomorrow for the next in our series of “Road to Wembley” as we speak to every member of the Tunbridge Wells squad. Next up is Jack Harris…
Picture supplied by Mark Hughes