Manager Andy Peaks spoke to local press ahead of Saturday’s game at Hullbridge Sports in the second round proper of the FA Vase. Andy commented: “It’s a great competition, I love it and we’re along with the highest ranked teams so it’s a good opportunity to do well in it. We’ve not got a great draw to be honest, away, against a team at the same level, but yes I’m looking forward to it a lot. Certainly we want to have a good run in it. At the end of the day, I back us, if we perform to our capabilities, I’d fancy us against any team at our level. If we match every other team’s workrate and desire then we should have enough quality to beat a lot of teams at our level. But we’ll go there and we want to make sure, come five o’clock on Saturday, we’re still in the draw. If it means bringing them back up next Tuesday night, so be it. But we want to make sure we’re still in the hat.”
The boss also believes that the clubs in the competition are no better than the Diamonds. “I said it last year, come May with the final at Wembley, the teams that play will be no better than us. So why shouldn’t it be us? That is a fact. In the FA Cup, teams can be better than us, so we can only go so far in that. But the Vase is only our level, so the teams that are in it will be no better than the standard we are, so why not us? You need to be a bit lucky in some of the games, you need a half decent draw.”
Peaks urged fans to get behind the team. “We’ve set the bar high, we’ve got to keep it there really. The crowd is brilliant and when we get a good crowd behind you it lifts you and it must play on the mind of the opposition players. They can really get behind the boys.”
You can read the preview for the game here, and details of coach travel to the game here.
