Ryan Rook scored twice for Tunbridge Wells last weekend

Table-topping Herne Bay visit Culverden on Saturday for a meeting with a patched-up Tunbridge Wells side who shrugged off their injuries to thrash Fisher 6-1 last week.

Manager Martin Larkin may dip into the transfer market before the weekend as he tries to plan for the visit of a team who are 13 points clear at the top of the table.

“We’re looking forward to testing ourselves against the best side in the league,“ he said. “They’re top of the table by a long way and it’s at home so hopefully we’ll get quite a big crowd.

“It’s just frustrating we never seem to have a full squad available when we play Herne Bay, but that’s just the way it is with injuries, at this stage we always knew we’d get them.”

With long-term absentees Keelan Mooney and Tom Davey still on the sidelines, Larkin was considering bringing in two new players this week, even if some of the walking wounded recover.

Andy Irvine, Carl Cornell and Perry Spackman were all ruled out of the Fisher game. Although the Wells produced one of their best attacking displays of the season, Larkin knows the leaders will be a far tougher proposition, even if they lost for the first time in 33 league games at VCD Athletic last weekend.

In front of a relatively healthy crowd of 157, Andy McMath shot the Wells in front after just three minutes against Fisher.

Jack Harris and Ryan Rook added to the lead and although Fisher pulled a goal back before the break, it was one-way traffic in the second half. McMath, Rook and Gary Clarke all found the net to complete Tunbridge Wells’ biggest win of the season so far.

The only sour note was a red card for Jon Pilbeam, who picked up two bookings and will now receive a one-game suspension.

After performing so well against St Ives in the FA Vase only to lose to a late goal the week before, Larkin was pleased with the response.

He said: “We turned it on. To be fair to Fisher they caused us quite a lot of issues but it was one of those days that had been coming.

“We had three big players missing so we’re very pleased that we played as well as we did.”

Photo by LAWRIE PROCTER