It’s 36 years since Maidstone United last played in the FA Cup third round - and their No.10 that day remembers it well.

Steve Butler led the line on Saturday, January 9 1988 as John Still took his Conference side to play Sheffield United.

They set up a trip to Bramall Lane after three replays against Kidderminster, Butler scoring both goals in a 2-1 victory.

The prolific striker had a glorious opportunity to put the non-league side in front against the Blades, then in the old Division 2.

It went begging and United lost 1-0.

The Stones are finally back in the third round, taking on Stevenage at the Gallagher on Saturday (12.30pm).

“I missed a great chance in the first half,” said Butler, who still lives in Maidstone.

“I remember going round the keeper on the left-hand side.

“People were closing me down and the ball just rolled past the post. It was the best chance of the game.

“I was absolutely gutted I missed it.

“You never know, if you go 1-0 up, how the game’s going to unfold but we gave a really good account of ourselves that day.

“I thought we had a chance of winning as the game went on but they nicked a goal. It was one of those what could have been, should have been moments.

“It makes me feel very old when you say it’s 36 years ago.”

It was a second successive third-round appearance for Butler and Maidstone.

Twelve months earlier, they went to Vicarage Road to play top-flight Watford, backed by 4,000 travelling fans.

The Hornets, managed by Graham Taylor and with future Liverpool star John Barnes in their ranks, won 3-1.

But they were given a scare by Bill Williams’ Stones side who led through Steve Galloway.

“The pitch was absolutely rock-hard - it wouldn’t have been played nowadays,” said Butler.

“There was hardly any football played and no tackling - if you hit the ground you’d rip your legs to shreds.

“I remember wearing big wooden studs.

“You just don’t want to get embarrassed when you go into a game like that.

“We’re 1-0 up and everyone’s excited but if you go there and put in a good performance, the club are happy and all the players are happy as well.

“I remember chasing around quite a lot. I played centre-forward but you were chasing people all over the bloody place because they were better players.

“It was a tough game, but you go 1-0 up and get really excited and then it’s 1-1 and you’re hanging on, then it’s 2-1 and 3-1, and the game’s gone but we didn’t embarrass ourselves.”

Maidstone made an impression on Barnes, who would join Liverpool that summer while Taylor moved on to Aston Villa before succeeding Bobby Robson as England manager.

“John was brilliant,” said Butler, now 61.

“‘I’ve met him a few times since.

“He came from lower-league stock as well so he wasn’t big-time at all.

“We bumped into him again when we went up to Altrincham, or somewhere like that, and we stayed over.

“We had a night out in Liverpool, some club on a Wednesday night, and John was in there and he came over and said hello to everybody.

“I remember Tony Pamphlett saying to him, ‘Do you remember me kicking you?’

“He was good as gold. Absolutely brilliant. I used to love watching him. Whenever he played for Liverpool, you’d want to watch him.”

Butler reached the quarter-finals of the FA Cup in the final season of his professional career.

He was player-coach under Peter Taylor as Gillingham beat Premier League opponents Bradford and Sheffield Wednesday before losing 5-0 to Chelsea in the last eight.

It’s a competition that’s always meant a lot to him and he’s pleased to see Maidstone back at the third-round stage after so many years.

He had a brief spell at Stevenage towards the end of his career and was also Taylor’s No.2 at Broadhall Way.

But Butler’s name will always be associated with Maidstone.

“It’s a really good achievement for the smaller clubs to get to the third round,” said Butler, who worked as a radio commentator when the Stones beat Stevenage in a first-round replay in 2014.

“You can get blase about football but I just remember, as soon as it’s the FA Cup, it’s a strange feeling.

“Players do feel a little bit different about it, and that would be in the earlier rounds, too.

“For my generation, it used to be really big.

“Cup final day was on the telly for seven or eight hours and there were all sorts of things going on before the game.

“I don’t know, because I’ve been out of football for some time, whether players still feel the same.

“I’m sure they do but it was a completely different feeling, an FA Cup day to a league game.”