KSN’s exclusive series of interviews with the Tunbridge Wells squad that has reached the Final of the FA Carlsberg Vase now focuses on a young striker Tunbridge Wells through and through.

He was a product of the club’s Youth scheme and now he could fire them to Vase glory at Wembley – it’s JACK HARRIS.

It’s been a season which many involved in Kent football won’t forget in a hurry and Jack is no different.

“It’s been pretty outrageous to be honest all season long! We set our sights pretty high but I don’t think any of us would have dreamed that we’d be actually going to Wembley – let’s face it, it’s every footballers dream to one day play there and we have made the dreams come true and we are there! We can just look forward to the game now,” he admitted.

“I’m not sure if playing all the games in such a short time period will help you know or not, but we’ve brought a few extra players in so that we can mix it around a bit and hopefully also give us a chance to get some momentum going before May 4th with the games coming thick and fast. We’ve just got to deal with it and so far it’s ok ish as we’re relishing the chances to get the games under our belts to be on form for the Final.”

For someone like Jack who has played all his football at the Culverden, the past few months must have seemed hard to believe and to take in – something the young striker acknowledges.

“It really is a dream for me as I started at the club in the Youth section and worked my way through to the first team where Larks and Brad (manager Martin Larkin and his assistant Bradley Sandeman) gave me my chance and I’ve never looked back and have enjoyed every minute.”

“They’re great to play for as they’ve brought me on leaps and bounds – they’ve transformed me into a completely different player; every day I’m learning new things all the time from them and I owe them so much. I just hope that wherever my career does take me, I can take what they’ve given me and develop it so much.”

“There was no way that I thought that I would get anywhere near Wembley this early in my career especially. I am ambitious but words cannot describe what it was like when we won the Semi Final at Shildon.”

“Now that we’ve had one Cup Final, we can focus on the rest of our League games until we actually start thinking about the fourth of May. I was watching from the sidelines at Shildon and when we went three nil down I honestly wasn’t worried as I know that the character that we’ve got at the club this year has been tremendous and we were after all just one goal behind and I knew that we would get a chance to level it up and that’s exactly what happened.”

“The lads will admit that we were nowhere near our best on that Saturday, but we dug deep with great character and won the game.”

The Final is now less than two weeks away, but Jack’s already clear what he’ll be thinking when Wells are called onto the Wembley pitch.

“Only one thing will go through my mind when we come out of the dressing room,” Jack said, “and that will be to go out and do my very best for me and my team mates, and if we perform on the day as Martin has said many times during this run, the rest will take care of itself. We have to be focused – work hard and our quality will come through and hopefully we will get the job done!”

KENT SPORT NEWS would like to thank all those at Tunbridge Wells who have allowed us unprecidented dressing room access for these interviews, and wish them the very best of luck in the Final.

Join us tomorrow for the next in our series of “Road to Wembley” as we speak to every member of the Tunbridge Wells squad. Next up is Carl Cornell…

Picture supplied by Jake Stanford.