Tunbridge Wells Foresters put five goals past Ebbsfleet Town to win the Kent Junior B Cup Final.

Adam Larkin opened the scoring for the Foresters with a penalty and scored another from a free-kick. Jack Stewart added a third before the break, Zach Benton made it 4-0 and Larkin completed his hat-trick in injury-time.

Foresters’ manager Eren Muduroglu was proud of his young team, who have just finished third in the Premier Division of the Sevenoaks & District League, and said: “They deserved that, they worked hard, they’re all young. The hat-trick scorer is only 17 and we had three or four 16-17-year-olds on the pitch.

“We set the team up two years ago, ready to get into men’s football, and it is working. They are loving it and this is just icing on the cake after a decent season.

“Every year they need to be better than they were at the start of the season, as long as they are better as people and players, that is our job, that is what I want.

“They are young adults, they have been through Covid, we get them off the streets, playing football with mates, keeping fit and this is their icing.

“I am pleased for them, not me. I am not results-driven. My results are them being better people, better players.”

The final took a while to get going at Chatham’s Bauvill Stadium, with Larkin firing in an early tester at Fleet keeper Leigh Watkins and David Milton shooting from range at the other end.

With just over half an hour played the Foresters took the lead from the penalty spot.

Goalkeeper Watkins had fouled Rob Elliot after making a challenge near the edge of his box. The Wells players limped off injured and Larkin scored from 12 yards.

Larkin - also on the books of Tonbridge Angels - capitalised on another foul with 40 minutes gone, this time from outside the box. His free-kick had too much power on it for Watkins to keep out, watching the ball agonisingly spill over the line.

Five minutes later and the Foresters had a third against their Rochester & District League opponents. Stewart skipped past the defence before smashing it home.

Wells were forced into another change just before the break when keeper Watkins raced out to challenge Finlay McLeod and a 50-50 coming together left both down injured. McLeod - who had replaced Elliot - also had to limp off.

Town needed an early goal in the second half to keep alive their chances. A cross from Colm Deane a minute after the restart was the opportunity they needed but Tommy Friend couldn’t get a shot away from a yard out.

A fast-paced start to the second half then saw Ollie Tizzard slip a pass through to Henry Wakely but he was denied by a good save from goalkeeper Watkins.

Jamie Blundell put a close-range effort into the side-netting for the Foresters and had a shot saved when he ran clear of the defence. Wakely put the loose ball wide.

A fourth goal for the Foresters came from a 63rd-minute corner kick which Benton met and guided home bravely with a diving header.

It was at that point their manager started to relax.

“I didn’t settle down until the header went in at 4-0!” he admitted.

“I have seen things turn around, they were up for it the whole way through, they didn’t back off, but I think we played better, one goal can always change things.”

Town defender Scott Jones suffered an injury while attempting to keep out the fourth goal, delaying the game for 10 minutes for treatment before being stretchered off, returning later for the presentation.

Pip Preston fired narrowly wide for the Foresters towards the end of normal time and set up the final goal, crossing for Larkin who guided in his third of the match after 94 minutes.

The Foresters hope to step up to Kent County Football soon and had arrived early on Saturday, watching the second half of the Intermediate Challenge Shield that Minster eventually won on penalties.

“That is where we want to be as a club,” Mudoroglu said.

“We have 600 kids, a massive girls team joining the JPL and we had a girl playing for us now at Brighton, there is so much development there.

“The players weren’t scared of what they saw, a bit of physicality and nous which they will learn but second half of this year the development has just gone through the roof.

“We had a few big wins at the end of the (league) season - I think a few teams had had enough - but in the cup we never let a goal in, the whole way through, which is amazing because the last two in quarter-final and semi-final, they were tough games against unbeaten teams but we’ve shown a lot of good stuff and to finish third in the league is brilliant for our first season in the Premier.”

Ebbsfleet: Watkins, Dolphin, Manning, Johnston, Jones, Fawcitt, Friend, Chiriac, Deane, Milton, Savill. Subs: Setters, Mahony, Brooker, Dodd, Edwards.

Tunbridge Wells: M Larkin, Mayo, Byrd, Tizzard, Wells, Winchester, Preston, Stewart, Elliot, A Larkin, Mudoroglu. Subs: Benton, Moynihan, McLeod, Wakely, Blundell.

Referee: Harrison Clark

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