FA Cup memories have come flooding back for Lordswood manager Nicky Southall ahead of their huge game this Saturday.

Southall played for Gillingham in the last-eight of the competition and appeared in round four for Bolton Wanderers. He now takes charge of an FA Cup second qualifying round match at Lords’ Martyn Grove, one which is being broadcast live on national television.

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The BBC cameras will be there to screen the match against Isthmian South East Sittingbourne, live on the red button and BBC iPlayer. It’s the first time Lordswood have ever reached the second qualifying round, the first time they’ve been on TV and they could be hosting a record crowd, too.

Southall said: “I have always said how much I love the FA Cup - as a child you always wanted to win the FA Cup, it wasn’t about the league.

“I have had some memorable moments in the FA Cup, in the quarter-finals and that goal I scored against Sheffield Wednesday (for Gillingham) seems to be replayed every year!

“Hopefully someone can make a bit of history for Lordswood at the weekend and have their own moment in the sun.”

Southall ended his playing career with a shock 2-0 FA Cup defeat for the Gills against his former team Dover but there have been plenty of happy memories - none more so than that goal against Sheffield Wednesday at Priestfield in late January 2000.

Already 2-1 up against the then-Premiership side, Southall chested the ball down and volleyed home from outside the box into the top corner, an unbelievable finish that sealed a 3-1 win and a place in the last eight of the competition, to play Chelsea.

Gills lost 5-0 at Stamford Bridge and Southall was also on the end of a 4-0 defeat as a player at Tottenham in 2002, then playing in the Premiership for Bolton.

Southall said: “Whatever happens this Saturday it has been fabulous for the club to get this limelight and to put Lordswood on the map, and Sittingbourne as well. It’s a really good game for both clubs.”

Southall, now aged 52, is looking to make his mark as a manager at unfashionable Southern Counties Football League side Lordswood. This season’s started well, as the club hope to challenge at the top end, something they’ve rarely done before.

“This is massive for the club,” he said.

“To get this kind of recognition and to be on the TV, everyone is looking at each other and pinching themselves.

“The club are having to do stuff behind the scenes that they’ve never done before, in terms of preparation before the game, going online with the ticket allocation, they have never had to do that before.

“It’s all good preparation for them as, hopefully, in a few years we can move forward and have these kind of games again - though probably not with the TV cameras here!

“We will be super excited before the game, the players will be, and the nerves can either make you freeze or bring the best out of you. I will try and make them as relaxed as they can be.

“We won’t do anything different to what we normally do, but I will talk to them about leaving it all on the pitch and after 90-95 minutes having no regrets.

“The cameras are here for a reason, looking for an upset. We want cause an upset and create our own bit of history and we want to get through and into the next round. Let’s see what happens.

“The buildup is different to what the players are used to and there are a lot of young kids in there, some very good players that are going to climb the leagues and hopefully this can help them make a step up and do that, to see how it works leading to the bigger games instead of turning up and there’s nobody there.”

Lordswood are hoping for a record crowd. They had already sold around 400 tickets at the start of the week, looking to smash the crowd of 600 that turned up in July 2003 when then Gills played them in a friendly to celebrate the installation of floodlights and a new boardroom. Southall was a Gillingham player at the time.

Southall’s already guided Lordswood to wins over beaten Erith & Belvedere, Shoreham and Binfield to make it this far in the competition but the manager knows his side are underdogs against Ryan Maxwell’s Isthmian South East outfit.

The Brickies beat Lordswood 4-0 in pre-season and so Southall has some idea what to expect.

He said: “Sittingbourne are going to be huge favourites. They were very good when we played them in pre-season, very athletic. They have a lot of quick players and players from the Essex area which is probably unknown around the Kent leagues.

“I am definitely under no illusions that it will be a difficult game and Ryan, who is a passionate manager, will want to win for Sittingbourne as well and I know the chairman there Andrew (Marjeram) as well.

“They will want to win but can we create a little bit of history with an upset? It’s the FA Cup and you never know.”

Lordswood’s recent games;