Tunbridge Wells winger Josh Stanford has thanked Soccer Elite FA for helping him fall in love with football again ahead of the trip to Wembley.

The left winger will line up for the FA Vase final against Spennymoor Town as Tunbridge Wells Football Club look to become the second club from Kent to win the trophy, thirteen years after Deal Town’s success back in 2000.

Despite playing a pivotal role in the side, Stanford admits he nearly wasn’t playing football at all and has thanked Soccer Elite FA for giving him his “mojo” back:

“Before I was at Soccer Elite, I had kind of lost my way with football. I wasn’t really playing for any club and just playing the odd game on a Sunday.”

“I never really had a passion for it anymore and coming to Soccer Elite has given me the passion once again. I’ve done some coaching and got my love for the game back.”

“The guys have given me the confidence to go on and play and Soccer Elite have been brilliant for me.”

“As a left winger, I’m still learning loads, but the coaching has helped me improve my own game and hopefully I can take that into the game at Wembley.”

Stanford will be backed by around a hundred from Soccer Elite on Saturday with friends and family cheering from the stands at Wembley.

Notably, one of his greatest supporters, his mum – the fashion designer Karen Millen will be there too and Josh appreciates all the support he is getting:

“That’s the biggest thing for me – the amount of support I am getting. If it wasn’t for all the support around me including my family and Soccer Elite, I don’t think it would have happened.”

“Seeing about a hundred of the guys from Soccer Elite in all their kit will be hard to miss and I’m looking forward to seeing them all in the crowd.”

“I’ve thought about walking out of the tunnel a lot and having a glance over to wherever everyone is going to be. Knowing they are all there to watch me play is going to be a massive buzz.”

With the game now upon us, Stanford is anxious to get the game underway:

“The excitement has really been building for a while now and I have been trying to block it out of my mind throughout the fixture build up we had.”

“It’s all about Wembley now and I can’t wait!”

“It’s been a relief to get through all of the games and now we can focus on the final.”

Stanford missed out on a trip to Barcelona with Soccer Elite to keep his place in the Tunbridge Wells FA Vase side that played up at Shildon and he told KSN how he didn’t regret making that decision:

“It was a bit of an unfortunate date clash, but in my mind there was only one choice as I will never get this chance and experience again.”

“To go up there and get to the final was a great experience, but I’m sure Barcelona was nice as well!!”

Having secured his place at Wembley with Tunbridge Wells, it has been suggested Josh is a role model to all of the youngsters at Soccer Elite, but it’s something he is unsure about:

“I suppose it is a nice tag to have, although I don’t really think of it. I just try and coach the guys. I enjoy doing it and I hope they enjoy my coaching.”

“To be looked at as a role model is especially pleasing for me. It’s probably not the right path to take if you want to end up at Wembley, but that’s football and sometimes that’s where it takes you.”

Tunbridge Wells have been put rightly on the map with their FA Vase run, but Stanford told KSN how he didn’t even know at the start of the season that Wembley was even an option:

“I must confess I didn’t even know what the FA Vase was! In my first game, I didn’t think too much about it and certainly didn’t know the final was going to be at Wembley.”

“No one really had too many expectations for us to get too far and I think we’ve very quietly gone about our business.”

“The game that sticks out for me is when we beat Dunstan at home as they are the holders. After that game, I thought we had a real chance because if we can knock out the holders, we can beat anyone and so it’s proved.”

“It will be hard to argue that playing at Wembley won’t be the greatest day of my life.”

Everyone at KSN would like to wish Josh, his team-mates and everyone involved with Tunbridge Wells the best of luck at Wembley.

Join us on Twitter @ksnfootball for live updates from the game with exclusive match photos and interviews to follow shortly after the match.