Why Littlehampton Town FA Vase goal hero CANNOT forget Wembley

The Golds player/joint manager says everyone associated with the club is buzzing for Saturday’s clash with Loughborough Students which will be watched by a crowd of around 3,000 – and is all too aware of the prize on offer.

He told us: ““I don’t think you can not talk about Wembley.

“My seven year old son is singing ‘Wembley, Wembley’ - they’re doing it in the playground at the school.

“There’s a whole buzz throughout the town and the community at what the club are doing.

“And what they’ve done to get extra fans in for these games is incredible. Everyone has worked so hard and sponsors have really helped us too.

“It’s a one-off game but we want to get to the final and want to the town to come with us.”

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Gaskin said the team started the season with the mindset of wanting to win everything they entered. They have a great chance of winning the SCFL premier division and the Vase is one of three cups they are still in.

“We said at the start ‘Why not us?’ Why can’t we win every competition we are in?” Gaskin said.

The goal hero of the quarter-final win over North Shields admitted Golds ‘got lucky’ in being reinstated in the Vase after a fourth round defeat at Athletic Newham, who were thrown out for fielding an ineligible player.

But he said: “The Vase run has been up and down with the reprieve but I think that’s helped us – it hurt us a lot going out the way we did. We were beaten by a good side.

“But we got lucky with getting put back in so that’s been a positive.

“Even at the beginning of the season, we beat Sittingbourne, a good Ryman side, 4-0 in the FA Cup.

“We lost 5-4 to Whitehawk but that was entertaining in front of about 600 and I think we realised then we had something special going and could push on.

“We knocked out Shepshed and Moneyfields so we’ve beaten a lot of good sides and away to Deal we were 1-0 down and down to ten men. We turned it around in a way not many sides could.

“With our league form as well, having Joe Benn score so many goals helped us massively, and that gave us a platform.

“We’ve watched videos of Loughborough Students, had them watched and done our homework. You go into every game having to show them respect.

“They’re a university and their players are going to be good athletes. It’s about us playing like we did against North Shields. They were a top side and favourites and we had to be at our best and we’re going to have to be again if we want to go through to the final.

“I don’t think we can play any other way. We’ll be solid and and try to create chances. We want to entertain the fans."