Both Jay Saunders and Nicky Southall are dreaming of FA Cup success ahead of Maidstone United’s trip to Wrexham on Saturday.

Talking to Kent Sports News ahead of the trip to Wrexham on Saturday, Maidstone United manager, Jay Saunders, and his assistant, Nicky Southall reflected on their favourite moments of the cup run so far.

Jay: “The cup run has been a massive bonus. You start the season, and the league is your priority, but for the boys to still be in at this stage has been fantastic for the club. It’s been great for the players, the fans, and for us as a management team.”

Nicky: “The FA Cup is really the main event at club level, and to have had the run we’ve been on, with everything that goes along with it has been fantastic. The town has really taken it on board, and we’ve seen the awareness of the pitch and the players increase.”

“Everyone was talking about the pitch ahead of Stevenage, but it’s the boys who have to cross that white line and they’ve done remarkably well.”

“It will be a tough one against Wrexham, but we’ve got to sustain the level of performance we had against Stevenage, and if we can replicate that, we could force a replay or even win the game.”

Jay: “We should have Jack Parkinson available for Wrexham, as we’ve now got Tonbridge in the Ryman League Cup on Thursday night, and that will take up his ban.”

“So hopefully, we’ll go to Wrexham with a full squad. Touch wood, no injuries at the weekend (against VCD) and then we can have a clear week of training. We are going into it in good form; alright the Met Police game was always going to be tough after the high of Stevenage, but the boys have enjoyed this run, the big games, and hopefully they can perform again.”

Both have experienced the ups and downs that this competition can provide.

Although his earliest memories of the FA Cup were of the Arsenal Cup Final against Sheffield Wednesday, Jay Saunders achieved success in the Cup as a player.

He was an integral part of the Margate side that beat Leyton Orient in a replay in the 2nd round in 2005/06, before being knocked out by Cardiff City 3-0 in the third round, and explained that they were good memories, but the Stevenage games were right up there with anything as a player.

“The Orient game, played at the Crabble, was a massive night, but in Cardiff, we came up against a side that were way above us at the time. They had the likes of Rob Earnshaw and Danny Gabbidon, players on the rise, and they turned us over.”

Southall, as a boy, remembered standing on the terraces at Ayresome Park, Middlesbrough and watching as Tony Mowbray’s diving header beat Everton in the last minute.

In his Bolton Wanderers days, Southall was twice a quarter-finalist and scored in the competition, but knows how it feels to be on the end of a giant-killing.

His last appearance for Gillingham was in the 2-0 defeat to Dover in the 1st Round of the 2010 competition, which “turned out to be a damp squib, except for the Dover fans who turned out in their thousands.”

That experience from both sides has helped the Maidstone squad prepare for what they have achieved, and Saunders added “my whole experience was from non-league, so a bit different to Nicky.”

“What I’ve tried to put across to the players this season is that these cup runs for non-league players don’t happen too often. We’ve tried to get them to go out and enjoy every game and so far every test they’ve come across, from the so-called smaller clubs to the bigger clubs, we’ve overcome the tests.”

“We’ve said all along, that this competition is a bonus, so the players should give it their all, and they do that every week.”

“It is massive for us having Jay (May) available (after the FA Disciplinary panel rescinded his red card against AFC Sudbury). I watched back the highlights of the Stevenage game, and he was outstanding for us on the night. He offers us a real threat, and he is back to his best at the moment.”

“He started the season well, then had a little dip when he was injured, but he’s come back into his own of late. He’s a bit part of the squad and it is a massive bonus for him to be available.”