An early goal set FC Revo on their way to their Kent Junior A Cup final win against Gillingham Bilbao at Chatham’s Bauvill Stadium on Saturday.

Man-of-the-match James Smith put them into a second-minute lead, adding another as they held a 3-0 half-time advantage after David Crouch had also struck and, while Fin Rushton pulled one back for Bilbao, the Tunbridge Wells team ran out as 3-1 victors.

Manager Jonny Ricketts said: “We played well.

“We knew it was going to be a tough game on a hot day. Our focus, as it has been all season, was on starting well. I thought we did that.

“In the first half, we actually played really well. Finals can sometimes be 100mph but, at the right times, people slowed down.

“We said at half-time that they, obviously, were going to come out and throw a bit at us.

“There were a couple of hairy moments at times but, on the whole, I felt we were pretty comfortable in the second half.

“We would have liked to have scored a few more but to win, whether we won by three, by two or by one, winning was the main aim - and I’m delighted we have.”

FC Revo still have a slim chance of winning Kent County League Division 2 Central this season and didn’t take long to break the deadlock.

Smith bundled a cross by Oli Ricketts - the brother of Jonny - past Jayke Phillips to give his side the dream start.

“We’ve had good starts throughout the season,” revealed Jonny. “James up front is a handful.

“We knew, if we got the ball wide, he was always going to have chances in the middle.

“It set the platform but I also felt it settled a lot of people down, myself included!”

Ben Watkins then saw his sixth-minute strike flash wide of Phillips’ post before FC Revo goalkeeper Jack Lazenby spilled Ben Saffery’s effort at the other end in a first opportunity for Bilbao.

That was about as close as Bilbao would come to an equaliser and FC Revo doubled their tally when Crouch thundered home in comprehensive style on 20 minutes.

Six minutes later, Smith stabbed past Phillips once more, only to be denied by the offside flag, while deep-lying playmaker Rushton blazed over a lay-off by Gillingham Bilbao team-mate Emiljon Vathi on the half-hour mark.

But Smith did claim a second for himself and a third for FC Revo - who saw off Bearsted Reserves (15-1), Hawkenbury (5-2), Stansfeld Reserves (4-1), Farnborough Old Boys Guild FC (6-2) and Littlebourne (3-1) on route to the final - from Crouch’s lobbed pass with 40 minutes played.

The early stages of the second half saw FC Revo almost grab a game-clinching fourth, with Crouch, Jordan Boukhari and Watkins going close in a five-minute spell.

Either side of the hour, fit-again FC Revo goalkeeper Lazenby almost gifted Bilbao a route back into the showdown - being involved with a mix-up that also involved Boukhari and making an error to allow striker Vathi to shoot - only to recover well on both occasions.

Ricketts said: “We score a lot of goals but, actually, ‘Stevo’ has been out for a few weeks with an injury.

“You can see, when you have someone in the sticks that everyone trusts, it makes a big difference.

“He’s fuming! He would have loved a clean sheet. But if we won by one, two, three, four or five, it doesn’t make a difference.

“We all have a winners’ medal around our necks and that’s what we started out the season, looking for.”

On the injury Lazenby has recovered from, Ricketts noted: “He has done very well to get here.

“He told me it would be four to six weeks, and I was like ‘It’s probably more six to 12 weeks!’.

“Then, he said he was fine. Then, he said he was going to play in a knee brace. Here he is.

“He’s not got anything on so maybe there was nothing wrong with him in the first place.”

But the popular shot-stopper was denied a clean sheet as Rushton struck past him and found the top right-hand corner with 18 minutes to play.

That goal sparked Rochester & District League Premier Division Gillingham Bilbao, who had beaten Baypoint (4-2), Upchurch (2-1), Snodland Town FC Blues (3-0) and Ashford-based Skippers FC (3-1), into life.

Aiming to set up a grandstand finish, Vathi and Rushton went close in the 86th minute while Vathi glanced a booming free-kick wide with 40 seconds to play.

But FC Revo held on comfortably enough and will look to add more silverware to their trophy cabinet when they play Skippers FC in the Leckie Family Cup final on Saturday.

“We have still got an outside chance of winning the league,” explained Ricketts. “We’re relying on other results.

“We go to the League Cup final next week and will look to do exactly the same.

“You can’t say winning the league isn’t a good achievement, but days like this are really special.

“We said in the changing room before that we think we’re a good team but, to actually prove you’re a good team to other people, you’ve got to win stuff.

“We’ve done that.”

FC Revo: Jack Lazenby, Robbie Farnham-Rose, Zack Benton, Gabriel Darcy, Aaron Wozny, Chris Lawal, Jordan Boukhari, David Crouch, Oli Ricketts, Ben Watkins, James Smith. Subs: Will Ashenden, Oliver Burgess, Lewis Wade, Joel Lawson, Ewen Jeffrey.

Gillingham Bilbao: Jayke Phillips, Harrison Cuckow, Mike Watson, Sid Peters, Billy Stockey, Harry Beare, Fin Rushton, Anthony Jeffers, Callum Harland, Ben Saffrey, Emiljon Vathi. Subs: Ellis Barrett, Jack Phillips, Jack Samuels, Stuart Smeed, Aidan Hoadley.

Referee: Kiran Bailey.