Larkfield & New Hythe 3 Whitstable Town 2 Kent Senior Trophy Final match report: Tyler Ibe scores twice for Larkfield

Tyler Ibe starred as Larkfield & New Hythe won the Kent Senior Trophy before racing to the airport for a trial in Portugal on Sunday.

The wideman scored twice and set up another goal as Larkfield raced into a three-goal lead against FA Vase finalists Whitstable at Maidstone’s Gallagher Stadium.

The Oystermen scored twice in as many minutes to set up a grandstand finale but they were unable to find an equaliser that would have taken the match to penalties.

Man-of-the-match Ibe had to cut short his celebrations, however, as he had a flight to catch.

Larks manager Micky Phillips explained: “Tyler was superb – I had to bring him off early as he’s had to get a flight to Portugal because he’s got a trial with a pro club out there.

“He was superb, wasn’t he? He’s fantastic. If he goes there and plays and trains like that then they’ll snap him up.

“He was the star man and was unplayable, they couldn’t stop him.”

Larkfield were only promoted to the Southern Counties East Premier Division last May but hoping for a top-10 finish and now have silverware to show for their efforts.

“It’s brilliant to win, it’s a great day,” added Phillips. “We made it hard work in the end but it’s great for everyone involved in the club.

“It means everything to us. We’re putting ourselves on the map and hopefully there’s bigger things to come in the future. I’ve never won this cup before so it’s a great achievement for everyone.

“We deserved to be 3-0 up and Carter made a mistake for the first goal and then they scored the penalty and you’re living on the edge a bit.

“But we managed to see the game out and that’s the most important thing. We defended well, they’re a very direct team and we did the job to get over the line.

“They’re a very good team