Lordswood are looking to not only produce a FA Cup upset at the weekend but also qualify for the First Qualifying Round for only the third time in the club’s history and the first time since 2005. 

And boss Matt Barman cannot wait as he explained to KSN this week, “When we beat Egham in the Extra Preliminary Round, it was the first time the Club had won an FA Cup tie since 2014!” the Lords boss exclaimed.  

“It was nice to progress even though I don’t think we played very well. They were a decent side you could see that, and we knew that the winner would host Cray Valley this weekend, we all know that they’re a good side, good manager, good team who had a good result last weekend against Sittingbourne, they’ll be hotly fancied for the game, but we’re happy with being the underdogs.” 

“We’ve played twice in the League now, drew 1-1 at Rusthall when I felt that we could have won the game, and then coming back to get a point at Whitstable after being 3-1 down. Whitstable will be right up there and are probably second favourites for the League along with Erith, Deal and Snodland.”

“We knew it would be tough, but it was a great performance, we had three seventeen-year-olds on the pitch and our oldest player was twenty-three and our captain was eighteen! 

“We really are a very young squad, we implemented the model when we came into the Club late last season and then we’d have probably lost Tuesday by five.”

“The boys have had some experience now and when they do the first thing that follows it is resilience. They believed in themselves and got a point, going to the sides that finished fifth and sixth last year and come away with two draws, it bodes well for the season.” 

“What we’re ideally trying to do is to bring the youngsters through, there are boys out there who will go and play at Step Two or Step Three but can’t get the opportunities as it’s such a hard thing for a seventeen year old to step into a Dover or a Maidstone as they need to get minutes under their belts, it’s no use sitting on a bench somewhere!”

“There’s a lot of ability coming through, the problem with the game, and the introduction of the u23s will help, but how do we get these boys used to playing men’s football from playing youth football. It’s a massive step and a lot of them fall out of the game, we need to give a platform for it.” 

“The other angle is that we don’t have a budget to pay players. I really don’t think that youngsters care about the money side of it, I can’t compete against your Faversham’s and your Whitstable’s throwing money around.”

“So, we have to find a different model and so our model is not about money, it’s simply if you’re good enough, you’re old enough and if you bring the right attitude and are willing to listen and willing to learn, you’ll get more and more opportunities.” 

“From the end of last season, that’s us seven unbeaten in competitive football. You could be right in saying a test like this against a side like Cray Valley has come too soon for us, but it’s the FA Cup… we probably won’t win it if I’m honest,” Barman joked,” but it’s all part of our experience for these boys.” 

“Whatever the test is at the weekend, we won’t shy away from it. If Cray have got too much for us and we’ve given everything, then Cray have got too much for us… I’m hoping to get Spurs in the Third Round, but if we don’t get that far, we don’t get that far, but we’ll have a damned good go!” 

Picture supplied by Allen Hollands.