Ahead of Cray Valley Paper Mills first ever competitive game against a professional side, their longest serving player who has made over 250 appearances for the club is relishing Sunday’s trip to The Valley and has been talking to KSN.

For Denzel Gayle, Sunday will be another massive day as the midfielder is Valley’s last surviving member of their FA Vase Final at Wembley from 2019 as he enjoys his seventh season at the Badgers Sports Ground. 

“It’s been a long build up to the game,” Gayle told us, “We have had family asking about the game; your friends asking you about it, your work colleagues asking about it! When the draw was made, we had five games still to play but we are finally here and thankfully a lot of the boys are injury free as well and that is the main thing!” 

“Everyone wants tickets! We know that a game like Sunday is a once in a lifetime for a lot of us and it’s a great experience and everyone wants to play but our main aim this year is to win our League and we haven’t played many but have had two back to back since the draw and that has been our main focus as we will always take one game at a time.

“It has not been a case of playing half-hearted as you want to play at Charlton, it does not work like that because Charlton is a one-off game for us.” 

“If we beat them, it is a real David and Goliath story; if we lose you have had the experience and a great day out. We have not over thought things, yes, it has been at the back of everyone’s mind!” 

“The two League games we had (winning 4-0 at East Grinstead before a 2-2 draw with Littlehampton) have really helped us giving the Gaffer chance to look at certain players and other stuff and everyone getting minutes. We have got a good enough squad to rotate and play players.” 

Manager Steve McKimm has achieved so much in a short period of time in charge of the Club.

“Steve signed some players who are “men” where as last year we had a lot of great footballers but when the going got tough maybe we were too used to playing pretty football.

“This year, we’ve different types of footballers with different strengths and you feel everyone on the pitch is a man, we can do the ugly side too. The aim is to win the game, it is very direct! The Cup games is to win the game and the League game is to hit them where we are strong and play to our strengths.” 

“When you play higher teams, it is good for us it is a chance to see what the next level is right. I think it has been easier for us to play higher teams as they could have underestimated us and then we just play to our strengths.” 

“Our FA Trophy win at Chatham last weekend was a great result for us, it was a good all-round performance as the Trophy is a competition that we could go a long way in.” 

“I’ve been asked if we can win on Sunday,” Gayle said reflectively. “Just remember that its eleven against eleven and if you break it all the way down, it definitely is a David against Goliath situation, they’re five Leagues above us, they’re professionals and train full time, everything for them will be better than for us but at the end of the day it is eleven men against eleven men in a football game over ninety minutes and you never know what might happen!” 

“I hope everyone who comes and supports us on Sunday enjoys the game and has a great day out – and who knows.” 

Images courtesy of Romana Rule