Dean Grant claimed his FA Cup winner in Faversham’s replay victory at Hitchin on Monday night was the biggest goal of his career.

The former Herne Bay, Whitstable and Canterbury man claimed he couldn’t sleep after his match-winner in Hertfordshire sent Town into the third qualifying round for the first time in their history.

After Town overturned a 2-0 half-time deficit on Saturday to force the replay, Grant was played through to fire the only goal 16 minutes in.

He revealed: “It didn’t really start to sink in until the next day quite how big an occasion it was and what an important goal it was for the whole club.

“It was great to make a little bit of history for the club. The club haven’t been this far and I haven’t played at this stage of the competition either.”

He added: “It was a fantastic team performance to come through it but on a personal level I took great pleasure in scoring the goal. I’ve never scored such an important goal in my career. I think it’s the biggest so far. Hopefully there will be more to come.”

The goal secured a home tie with Egham, who are 14th in Evo-Stik Southern League Division 1 Central, and Grant admitted the draw had ‘opened up’ for Town.

He said: “It’s an opportunity for us, though we don’t like to look too far ahead or read too much into what they have done – in the FA Cup anything can happen.”