Hollands & Blair manager Scott Porter won’t be able to watch the club’s biggest game of the season.

Blair are away to Larkfield & New Hythe in the semi-final of the Kent Senior Trophy this Saturday but a stadium ban means Porter will miss the match.

Porter is facing the second of a two-game ban this weekend after comments he made to a referee in their January match against Kennington. There was no swearing involved, but the FA took a dim view of his suggestions that the official check the video highlights to improve his development.

“We accepted it, expecting a slap on the wrist, but I got a two-game ban,” said the Blair boss.

Porter will be back at Star Meadow, listening in to updates from afar, as assistant manager Mark Lane and the rest of the coaching staff take charge.

He said: “I will still pick the team and do all the set-pieces and then let Laney and the coaches get on with it.

“It is frustrating not being there because it is massive, the biggest game of the season in a semi-final, but we just have to get on with it.

“We will have a team meeting before the game somewhere and then I will sit at our club with people at the game letting me know what is going on. Hopefully we win and we can have a bit of a jolly up back at the club.”

Division 1 Larkfield knocked Premier Division leaders Chatham out in the quarter-final and there’s no way Porter will be underestimating them.

He said: “They are no mugs and it is going to be a massive game for them, league positions and divisions don’t matter on the day, we have seen that over the weekend in the FA Cup.

“We will treat them with respect. I watched them on Saturday and I know it will be a big game for both teams.

“People have been around football long enough to know league positions don’t matter, you have to be eight out of 10 in a semi-final, or you won’t win it. You have to be on top of your game to give yourself every chance of getting into the final.”

Glebe and Sheppey battle it out in the other semi-final this Saturday.

Blair have enjoyed a good run of results under Porter, going eight games unbeaten in the Premier Division before narrowly losing to promotion-chasing Glebe.

They bounced back with a 2-1 win at Tower Hamlets last weekend, introducing three teenagers late on. Seventeen-year-old Harvey Welford - son of prolific Kent non-league striker Shaun - scored the winner on his debut after joining on loan from Sevenoaks Town.

Porter said: “Micky Collins (the Sevenoaks manager) wanted to get him out on loan and Shaun wanted to ring around himself to decide where would be the best place to look after him. He is a promising young lad and we have a few of them.”

Leyton Davis and Charlie Gill were also introduced and their energy helped win it for Blair.