Ray Turner revealed he had to listen to mobile phone commentary of Faversham’s biggest ever Cup win while sitting in a fire station.

Firefighter Turner was unable to swap his Monday night shift at Thameside Fire Station at short notice after Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Hitchin and so missed the replay in Herts, with the Town side taken by assistant Clive Turner.

Turner received regular updates on the game – including a 15-minute stoppage for floodlight failure – from secretary Wendy Walker who commentated on the final five minutes down the phone to Turner.

He said: “Most of us had Tuesday off for the (scheduled) Hastings game but I couldn’t get out of work. It was only the second game I’ve missed in my five years here.

“It was a pretty dramatic night and a very nervous experience. I was getting updates while there were calls coming in to the station and blue lights going off everywhere.”

He added: “When I heard the final score I was absolutely ecstatic. When we were 2-0 down at half-time on Saturday we were out of the Cup, and now we’ve gone the furthest in the club’s history. I was out at a hay-stack fire until 3am but nothing could wipe the smile off my face after that.”

Before their FA Cup visit of Egham in the next round, Town have the small matter of welcoming Ryman League Division 1 South leaders Tooting & Mitcham to the Shepherd Neame Stadium on Saturday (3pm) with Chatham heading to Salters Lane on Tuesday (7.45pm).

Turner claimed: “We have an incredible run of home games. With the way the cup games have fallen on away games it means six of our first eight league games will be at home. It’s important to keep in touch at this stage because at some point it will even out.”