The boys' are dreaming of Wembley, says Lordswood boss Jason Lillis

LORDSWOOD manager Jason Lillis says a family atmosphere within the club has given his side a chance of causing a FA Carlsberg Vase upset at Spennymoor Town next Saturday.



Spennymoor Town lie in second place in the Northern League and are unbeaten in their 23 league games. They are six points behind Darlington, but have four games in hand.  They have only conceded 10 goals in the league, four of them being on home turf. They are the defending Northern League champions and have aspirations for promotion.

The original Fourth Round clash was postponed yesterday owing to a frozen pitch, so the two sides will have to wait until next weekend to see who can reach the LAST SIXTEEN.

This is the furthest that the Medway club have reached in the FA Carlsberg Vase, after knocking out Warlingham, Raynes Park Vale, Egham Town, Thame United and Southend Manor to face their biggest challenge yet.

Lillis said: “Spennymoor have got high expectations this year and they’re really having a go at it, so it will be a tough game for us.  Someone tells me it’s the year of the underdogs, so why can’t it be us?

”They’ve not lost all year, they’ve only conceded four goals, but we’re going to go there, we’ve got a plan that hopefully we’re going to stick to and hopefully everything clicks and you never know? You never know what could happen in a game of football.

”I’m going there with optimism and we’re going to give it our best shot that’s for sure!”

The Northern League has a reputation of being a strong League – as Herne Bay found out last year, going out to members West Auckland Town in a heartbreaking semi-final second leg defeat up in the North East.

Lillis said: “If you look at the teams that are in the radius of fifteen miles of each other, it’s massive, so they’ve got the opportunity to pick better players. For some reason there’s quite a bit of money floating around there for football up there so it’s a very strong League.

”Kent sides have done well in the Vase, so why can’t we keep on with that tradition?”

All of the sixteen Fourth Round ties were called off yesterday – including Tunbridge Wells’ home game against holders Dunston UTS – due to frozen pitches so they will  all be placed in tomorrow’s Fifth Round (last sixteen) draw.

When asked about leading his side out at Wembley Stadium on Saturday, 4 May, Lillis replied, ”We can all dream, can’t we? The boys’ are dreaming. It’s nice to have a dream, but at least we’re there to give ourselves a chance of maybe doing that.

“I’m not saying I’m relying on that’s going to happen, but all I can say is we’ll give it a right good go at it and see where we go from there. 

”At least we’ve made the fifth round draw on Monday, haven’t we?!

”It’s good for a club our size what we’ve achieved. We’re in one semi-final already (the Kent Senior Trophy), hopefully we’ll get in another one if we don’t slip up against Tunbridge Wells in the second leg (because we’re leading 4-1 in the first leg of the Macron Kent League Cup).  We’re doing well in the league as well. We couldn’t ask much more than what’s going on this year.”

When asked the secret behind arguably the club’s best ever campaign, Lillis simply replied, “A lot of hard work and a good team spirit amongst the boys, getting the right mix of players working together.  It’s just a great team spirit.

”There’s a seriousness about the football, don’t get me wrong, there’s a togetherness but off the pitch as well as on.  I think that’s a big part of it, a lot of hard work behind the scenes.

”Steve Arnold has been absolutely fantastic for me as my number two. It’s just like a big family really, a nice family atmosphere.”

That family atmosphere is helping the club prepare for Tuesday night’s Kent Hurlimann Football League home tie against Sevenoaks Town.

Simon Jones’ side lie second-from-bottom in the table, with only three wins from sixteen league outings, two points clear off a Fisher side, who are now managed by Billy Walton, who has had short coaching spells with VCD Athletic and Greenwich Borough this season, and he is assisted by former VCD Athletic boss Martin Ford.

Lillis insists his squad, presently in ninth-place in the Kent League with seven wins and two draws from fourteen games, are fully focused to concentrate on their bread and butter.

”We was in yesterday putting sheets on the ground to get the game on Tuesday night on,” he said.

”A lot of the boys’ were up there yesterday, which was good and then they went to the gym afterwards so they’re keeping themselves fit.

”It’s just a nice place to be around.  Everyone’s talking about different things and the exciting things going on this year.

”I don’t have to get them up for this (FA Vase) game. They’re excited as it is. There’s no problem getting their excitement up.”

Looking ahead to the home game against Sevenoaks Town on Tuesday night, Lillis said: “Last week we had to focus on a quarter-final of a Cup against Woodstock Sports and we done that well.

”We haven’t got a big squad to be able to change around and put players in and rest players so we’ve got to get on with it.

”We’re just taking it as another game, another week and we’ll move on but obviously there is one thing at the back of your mind to think about it.

”We’re not in a position to do anything about it. We just have to play games.

”Hopefully we can get the game on. Hopefully it will stop snowing and we’ll have a thaw on. 

”I’ll never disrespect any team we play against. We’ve got to do a job, whether their top of the table or bottom of the table. They’ve got to come to us and we have to play and our main priority is now to start putting points on the table.”

Visit Lordswood’s website: www.lordswoodfc.co.uk

Spennymoor Town  v  Lordswood
The FA Carlsberg Vase Fourth Round
Saturday 26^th January 2013
Kick Off 1:00pm
At The Brewery Field, Wood Vue, Spennymoor DL16 6JN