The FA Cup always makes my tummy rumble in excitement, reveals Lordswood boss Jason Lillis

LORDSWOOD boss Jason Lillis says he still gets excited when it comes to the FA Cup, writes Stephen McCartney.


The Medway outfit welcome their Kent Hurlimann Football League rivals VCD Athletic to Martyn Grove for a preliminary round tie on Saturday.

Lordswood go into the Kent showdown in eleventh place in the table, with two defeats, a draw and a win, while Ricky Bennett’s Vickers’ sit in third place, courtesy of three wins and a defeat.

“Yes, it’s always good to have a game in the FA Cup,” said Lillis, who played in the competition proper for the likes of Gillingham, Maidstone United, Walsall and Cambridge United during his professional career.

“It’s a special day for everyone whose involved in football no matter what level you play at, so it’s exciting for everyone around the club.

“VCD are a good footballing side and they’re a good team so if we don’t play well, we’ll obviously come on the wrong end of a result, but hopefully the boys’ will knuckle down and make it a nice day for us.”

Reflecting on his past FA Cup performances, Lillis, 41, said: “I have had some good runs in it, played against some good teams.  Obviously this is right down the lower end of the scale because when you’re a professional you come one, two or three rounds into it.

“Like I said, it doesn’t matter what level you’re at.  It’s always a special day still.  It always makes my tummy rumble with excitement playing in the FA Cup – sometimes you wish you were playing yourself.

“Hopefully the boys’ will be excited about it as much as we are and hopefully we come out in the right end with a good result.”

The Lordswood manager knows the importance of beating their Crayford based opponents –the winners will bank £1,500 in prize money.

“I think everything at our level is all about money,” he said.  “We’re a non-paying club so we have to support ourselves so any little bit of help in financial matters can be great for us.

“We’d like to progress in the competition.  We’re playing VCD who are in the same league as us.  They don’t know about us at the moment.  We’ve had them watched a couple of times.  I don’t think it’s not a luck thing.  I think it’s just about who performs best on the day.”

Hythe Town performed miracles last season as they became the first Kent League side in 53 years to reach the First Round Proper, where Scott Porter’s side lost 5-1 away to League Two side Hereford United last November.

Lillis said: “Hythe done fantastically well to get as far as they did.  I mean that was a great feat and that was a good advert to Kent League football as well.  I take my hat off to what they did.

“The boys’ have got ambitions and they want to go as far as they can.  It’s up to them to get motivate themselves properly, put in a shift and a performance that puts us into the next round.”

Reflecting on his side’s opening four league games, Lillis said: “It’s been frustrating, the first couple of games. All the hard work and the way we’ve been playing (in pre-season) went a miss, but over the last two games we’ve started to pick up a little bit and the boys’ have a little bit more confidence about themselves now and hopefully it’s looking good.”

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

Lordswood  v  VCD Athletic
FA Cup with Budweiser Preliminary Round
Saturday 3^rd September 2011
Kick Off 3:00pm
at Martyn Grove, North Dane Way, Walderslade, Kent ME5 8YE