Gavin Tomiln’s ninth goal since he joined Cray Valley PM is quite possibly the most important goal of his distinguished career as it’s the goal that takes his side to Wembley in the Buildbase FA Vase.

Tomlin’s been talking to KSN about returning to Wembley, his short spell at Badgers and scoring the goal that took him personally to the Arch after previously playing there for Dagenham and Redbridge.

“Kevin (Lisbie) and I have been there before but we both lost last time!” he said, “we’ve experienced it before, and you understand what you’re going for which is something that I can now hopefully pass onto the others.”

“It’ll be a one off game and it will be tight, and it’ll be who genuinely makes the less mistakes on the day. Generally, Finals are not about great football or have lots of goals, so we’ll just encourage each other to do our best.”

“It’s not a nice place to lose and I don’t want that feeling again,” Tomlin admitted. “You never want to lose any Final but at Wembley? It’s heart–breaking so I’ll definitely use that as a driving force.”

Talking of being the goal-scoring hero who took his side to Wembley, the former Gillingham striker modestly admitted, “I was in the right place at the right time which most of the time is all about being a striker is all to do.”

“I’m just happy that it went in and happy we were able to hold on over the two legs. Kevin (Watson) has done a fantastic job for the club and is right to play things down now as there’s still a lot of football to be played in our season. He’s been good for me since I joined the club…”

“It’s been a good week and it was probably just as well that we didn’t play very well in the First Leg because it meant that we couldn’t rest on our laurels and had to go to Canterbury and do a job and better in the Second Leg which gratefully we did.”

“They had their chances as well but we knew we had to better. It was huge blow losing Walks (keeper Andy Walker) – he’s our captain and talisman; he’s a massive influence on the team but Deren (Ibrahim) did brilliantly when he came in.”

We then spoke about what brought the striker to Badgers. Tomlin told us, “Kevin, the manager and Kevin James the coach.”

He went on, “Dulwich wouldn’t give me a chance and they offered me the opportunity just to come and play football which is just what I want to do.”

“They said they had a few challenges of wanting to win the League and get to the Vase Final, and you can help us do that and so to me it was an absolute no brainer!”

“You can’t put into words what they’ve both done for the Club in such a short period of time to elevate the club to where they are today – it’s truly amazing!”

Pictures supplied by Dave Cumberbatch.