Punjab United are flying the counties flag into the last four of the ISUZU FA Vase and manager Chipie Sian is delighted by his side’s progress in the competition.

After beating Downton in the last eight on Saturday, United’s reward is a two-legged Semi Final – with the deciding ninety minutes at the Steve Cook ground on Easter Saturday – against Cockfosters, the team that dumped holders Whitstable Town out of the competition in the last sixteen.

We caught up with Chairman/manager Chipie Sian on Monday afternoon for his reaction about the draw. “I am just happy that we have the second leg at home!” Sian told us.

“I am happy with the draw as it means that we don’t have to travel too far which is always a concern – travelling two or three hours for a game and getting up early! But I think this draw has worked out alright and we knew that whoever we drew, it’s going to be two tough games and to get someone “quite” local with the second leg at our place is good and I don’t think we can ask any more than that!”

We then looked back at the weekend and Punjab’s 1-0 win over Downton from the Wessex League. “We’ve been trying to focus on Tuesday’s game as quickly as we can,” the boss explained with his side’s trip to Hollands & Blair now on the immediate horizon.

“Saturday really was unbelievable – the celebrations with the fan base that we had – well over five hundred Punjab fans there Saturday – it was amazing, and rightly everyone is still buzzing! Went for a walk with my wife Monday morning where I live and people were coming up to us, congratulating us, it really is amazing!”

Punjab played for nearly an hour against ten men in the Quarter Final before Jack Hopkins scored the late winner. “I thought the guy was going to get a yellow for the challenge (on Roman Campbell) but looking at it back, there cannot be any complaints as the foot was dangerously high and caught him.”

“I didn’t feel that we played to our best on Saturday and only having ten men, they fought even more meaning we struggled a little bit trying to control the ball ourselves, but in the end we got the break we needed from a bit of quality. We hadn’t long freshened things up and the changes worked. Harry () caused them problems up front and he could have scored just before we did but for a brilliant save, but his ball to Hoppo (Jack Hopkins) was unbelievable and we didn’t give them a sniff after that!”

Sian then paid tribute to his goal scorer saying, “Jacks been there and back with his knees in his career but he’s come back again… we’ve had our Physio working with him and we have taken our time with Jack and some of the others as we know that they can’t play every week! Hoppo has been unbelievable – the medical staff have done an amazing job with him, and he has listened, they all have. They are disciplined, good people and the look after themselves.”

The manager then revealed that Hopkins nearly didn’t play. “He had a difficult time in the week with his dad not being too well and I’m sure that the goal was for his dad really in his hospital bed!” 

Punjab now face a fixture backlog following their success in the Vase and their run to the Gocardless Kent Senior Trophy Final, as well as still challenging for a SCEFL Play Off spot but the manager admitted, “We have already had conversations about how are we going to fit all the games in as we are now practically back to back all the way to the end of the season. I think the only gap we do have is just before the Cockfosters games which is great before we go again until four games in a week at the end of April.”

“If the boys are going to do this, they are going to do it the tough way and that’s the way it is! Whitstable did it last year, so there are no complaints from me as if you are going to do it – getting to semi-finals and finals – the League will take a little back step for a while, it has! We have five of our last six games at home – we’re going to keep our groundsman busy, aren’t we?”

“I’m delighted to have gotten this out of the way as we couldn’t really concentrate on going to Gillingham (to face Blair) until this had all been sorted and after that we go to Larkfield on Saturday, who are second, before going to Ashford Wednesday next week to face Kennington – three really tough games.”

“Everyone is buzzing for Cockfosters and the Vase – that prep will be done but first we have to start picking up League points tomorrow or else the play-off place is going to be way off and I don’t think the boys want that! They really want to fight on all three fronts and if we can get a couple of good results in the League, we will be right back up there with the games in hand!”