Herne Bay are enjoying a terrific season

A sense of history will help fire Herne Bay up this weekend as they attempt to break new ground and reach the FA Vase quarter-finals.

Bath-based Larkhall Athletic visit Winch’s Field in the fifth round tie on Saturday, which is expected to attract in excess of 500 supporters.

Bay booked their place in the last 16 with a terrific 2-1 win on Tyneside against Newcastle Benfield last month to equal their best run in the competition. Manager Simon Halsey is wary of this weekend’s visitors but believes his squad are driven to take the club into the quarter-finals for the first time.

He said: “If we don’t prepare properly it will be them in the hat for the next round on Monday. I really do want to set a bit of club history and get into the last eight. I think they’ve got to this stage before and lost [in 1996/97], so our goal is to go further.

“Whatever happens if we can get through to the quarter-finals of a national competition it would be brilliant for everyone at the club. We’ve all come a long way in a short time.”

The entire Kent League fixture list was wiped out by frozen pitches last weekend, so Bay will go into the game still spoiling from their last outing - a 2-1 loss at VCD Athletic which was their first league defeat this season. They remain in a commanding position, 13 points clear, and Halsey is hoping the cup run is their last in the Vase, as promotion to Ryman Division One South would see the club enter the FA Trophy instead.

He said: “It’s not done and dusted by any means and there are a lot of big games to play, but one of the things which has kept us going to try and stay in as long as possible is because it could be the last time we enter the Vase.

“We were all disappointed to lose to VCD but if we’re honest we didn’t deserve to win the game. Hopefully we can move on, every time we’ve lost this season we’ve bounced back with a big run. With 11 league games to go if we can do it again we won’t be far away from where we want to be.”

Photo by IGOR KUPCO