THE FLEET AT WEMBLEY: Winning is the only thing on our minds, says Kimble - EXCLUSIVE

ALAN KIMBLE has vowed to bring the FA Carlsberg Trophy back to Kent on Saturday afternoon - ending our 38-year famine, writes Stephen McCartney.

Excitement is building here in the Garden of England, as the Fleet HEROES prepare to tackle their Blue Square Premier rivals Torquay United at the home of English football.

The Fleet have beaten the likes of Weymouth, Burton Albion and Blue Square Premier champions Aldershot Town en-route to Wembley Stadium and Kimble, the Fleet’s assistant manager, says they want the name of Ebbsfleet United to be engraved on the Trophy for ever.

At least 50,000 will be making the pilgrimage to Wembley Stadium on Saturday, with half of that figure supporting the Kent side.

Kimble, speaking EXCLUSIVELY to www.kentishfootball.co.uk on Tuesday night, revealed the mood in the camp ahead of the Fleet’s first ever match at Wembley Stadium.

“Everyone’s fine,” he said. “We had a nice relaxing week last week, just ticking over and recharging our batteries after a very hard campaign.

“This week we’ve just been building it up, doing quite a lot of eleven-versus-elevens, organisation, keeping the boys mentally and physically prepared for a fantastic day at Wembley.

“But it will only be fantastic if we win the game!

“The boys are buzzing at the moment (and they) can’t wait for the day to come.”

Kimble, who like boss Liam Daish, has played at the old Wembley Stadium, revealed their itinerary for the week ahead.

“It’s all about who adapts to the big occasion, whose prepared right from Monday to Friday, stroke Saturday,” said Kimble.

“We know we’ve prepared the best we can.

“We’re staying at Burnham Beeches on Thursday morning after training and we’re going to Wembley in the afternoon, to look at it, get onto the hallowed turf and take in the scenery.

“On Friday we’ll train at Bisham Abbey - we’re doing everything properly.”

But the Fleet aren’t going to Wembley Stadium for the day out - they’re going there to create Kentish football history.

“Let’s hope it’s a lovely day for Ebbsfleet United,” said Kimble. “We’ve got to try and grab it with both hands and come away with the trophy.

“We know it’s a hard game but we have to stamp our authority on the game and with a bit of lady luck on our side, we’ll come back with the trophy.

“We don’t really know what the team is at the moment. We’re working on a few things in training and we’ll probably announce the team on Friday morning - or announce it on Saturday.

“We’ve got that belief in the camp that we can beat anyone on our day.

“If we can play to our strengths as we did at Aldershot, we’ll go there and play our game and get the result at half-past-four on Saturday afternoon.

“At the end of the day if you win the Cup, it’s fantastic.

“We want to go there and win it. We don’t do second. We want to be a winner.

“They say in football the bridesmaids’ never the bride but we just hope we’re going to be the bride on Saturday afternoon.

“Once your name’s on the Cup, your name will be on the Cup forever. They never say who came runners-up - it’s all about the winners, winning the title.

“They say it’s the non-league’s FA Cup. It’s the biggest Cup in non-league and we must make sure we get that trophy.

“It doesn’t matter how we play, as long as we lift that Cup for Ebbsfleet United.

“It’s on Sky Sports One, the major satellite sports station and we want to show the public what Ebbsfleet are all about.

“We’ve come a long way in a short space of time. We’re progressing on the right lines and hope it continues.

“We’re hoping that we come out of Wembley Stadium with the Trophy.

“We believe in these bunch of boys and the squad we’ve assembled this season. I just hope it’ll be enough to take us to the historic heights of lifting the trophy.”

Kimble and Daish have worked wonders - on a small budget - at the Stonebridge Road club - and winning at Wembley Stadium will just be the beginning.

“It’s a good stepping stone for both of us. We want to achieve something at Ebbsfleet,” said Kimble.

“We said it will be a three or four year plan. We know we’ve come a long way in a short space of time on the field.

“We’re all going to enjoy the day, but you can only enjoy the day if we win the trophy.

“If we do there will be unbelievable celebrations. We know we’ve got enough in our dressing room to go and win that trophy.”

The Fleet relish the underdog tag, and Kimble wouldn’t have it any other way.

He said: “We don’t mind being the underdogs, that suits us down to the ground.

And he added: “It’s looking rosy at the moment and it’ll be even rosier if we can bring it back to Kent.”

Before the Fleet’s date at Wembley Stadium, the club’s PASE side play their counterparts from Southern League Thatcham Town in the Football Conference Youth League Championship Play-Off on Wednesday night. The Stonebridge Road clash kicks off at 7:30pm.

Visit the following websites:

www.ebbsfleetunited.co.uk

www.thefa.com

www.wembleystadium.com

FA CARLSBERG TROPHY FINAL
EBBSFLEET UNITED v TORQUAY UNITED
SATURDAY 10 MAY 2008
KICK OFF 2:30PM
AT WEMBLEY STADIUM, WEMBLEY, MIDDLESEX HA9 0WS