Hollands & Blair are preparing for their biggest game of the season.

Scott Porter’s men host Croydon in the Kent Senior Trophy quarter-final this Saturday.

“It’s massive,” declared the Blair manager. “It’s our biggest game of the season.

“Since I have been at the club we have been successful in cup competitions, getting to two finals in one and a half seasons and we want to do the same again.”

The draw has been kind to Blair, their reward for beating K Sports in the last around is a home game against another SCEFL Division 1 side in Croydon. Porter’s Premier Division side needed a penalty shootout to see off their last opponents and won’t be taking the Londoners lightly.

“They are no mugs,” said Porter. “As we found out against K Sports anyone can beat anyone, including from the league below, it will be a tough test and we will have to be at our best to win the game.

“We were taken to penalties by K Sports and if it wasn’t for Dan Ellis (the Blair goalkeeper) we might have gone out so that will definitely be mentioned in the teamtalk.

“They have some good players who have played higher, but we are at home, we enjoy playing at home. We have to concentrate on what we do and get back to what we did before the Glebe game (last Saturday).”

Blair lost 3-0 away at Glebe, a result that sent the victors top of the SCEFL Premier Division table.

Porter said: “That game wasn’t all doom and gloom, they are top for a reason, with the players they’ve got, the budget they’ve got. We were still in the game for 70 minutes but sometimes you have to hold your hands up and say they were better on the day.

“We had a game plan to frustrate them, we had a couple of chances, the referee didn’t help, he gave a soft penalty which Dan saved and then another which was one.

“They are a good side, with players there like Jamie Coyle, Jamie Philpot (who scored twice) and people like Jason Banton, they think they’ve got a chance and they are throwing a bit of dough at it, which is fair enough. Why wouldn’t you?

“We gave a good account of ourselves, we just didn’t do the same jobs for the whole game and we didn’t take the chances when we had them.

“We have to go again and pick ourselves up, we had a good run of nine games, losing just three, we have picked up, we just have to go on another run. We have some big games coming up, Croydon, then Snodland (away on Wednesday, January 17) and then Sutton Athletic (home on January 20), three winnable games.”

Blair’s last home game was against Lordswood at the end of the year, winning 4-1 in front of a big crowd. Porter’s men had lost 5-0 at Martyn Grove earlier this season and was pleased to get one back on their Medway neighbours.

“We owed them!” Porter said. “That one was for the chairman as well (Paul Piggott once managed Lords) - he has friends there, it wasn’t nice when we lose there and I could see it hurt, when it’s a local derby it affects people who have been at the club a long time, I see that, I said to the boys, ‘we owe this to the football club’, everyone was nine and 10 out of 10.

“It was a great performance in front of a big crowd.”

Central defender William Puffette made his debut for Blair in that game, replacing Matt Bourne, after he decided to hang his boots up at the end of the year.

Puffette is on a dual registration from parent club Tonbridge Angels.

Porter said: “Bourney is at an age now, work and family commitments and so after the Stansfeld game he said what his decision was, he thanked everyone and for the time I had Matt he was a top man, a true semi-professional, an honest player, a good player.

“I had to act quickly, with our connections through Lloyd Blackman at Tonbridge Angels we got Will in, he’s a good lad, really promising, big and strong for his age. He has been a big plus for us.”