Wembley hat-trick? Not beyond possible for Littlehampton Town hero Gaskin

“Why not?” he asked when we put that scenario to him as he and his team-mates celebrated their 4-0 semi-final win over Loughborough.

“I did once get two hat-tricks in one day so I could score one in one day, that’s for sure. Three at Wembley would top if off nicely... if I can get in the team!”

Gaskin was quick to point out the semi-final success was not just about the goalscorers. “Goals win you games but our defence in the past two or three rounds of the Vase have been absolutely fantastic,” he said.

“Not to conceded against two quality teams in the past two rounds gives you a base from which to win and that’s what we’ve done.”

Gaskin told us last week he’d been unable to get Wembley out of his brain as his seven-year-old son had been singing about it. And he said after the semi win: “The number of times I’ve heard Wembley mentioned in the past two or three weeks, you can’t not talk about it. It’s what you dream about as a kid and words can’t really describe how I feel.”

Asked what went through his mind when the ball fell to him when through on goal in the first minute, he said: “It’s going in and we’re going 1-0 up - simple as that. I’ve done it for years and I’ll keep doing it. With me and Mitch picking the team, I would’nt have picked myself if I wasn’t confident.”

Read more from Gaskin on this website on Friday - and today in our special souvenir edition of the Littlehampton Gazette, out now.

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49 pictures from the Sportsfield semi-final.

Hand: We'll take the whole town to Wembley.

One fan's view of a Golds day to remember.