Needham Market versus Dartford: chairman Keith Nunn 'optimistic' of reaching FA Trophy quarter-finals with victory at Bloomfields

Needham Market chairman Keith Nunn is hoping the club's players draw inspiration from last weekend’s FA Cup giant-killings as they look to take another step towards Wembley at Bloomfields tomorrow.

Having already knocked two National League sides out of the Buildbase FA Trophy already this season, in Wealdstone and Yeovil Town, the Marketmen play host to National League South high-fliers Dartford in the fifth round (3pm).

Nunn admits he will be ‘more optimistic’ than he was after the long trip down to Somerset in the last round directly ahead of kick-off. But he knows they will have to embrace the underdog tag once again to make the last 16.

“It’s good we’ve had the week to prepare,” he said, referring to Needham having no mid-week fixture while the Darts had to travel to Havant & Waterlooville on Wednesday (1-0 win).

“Remember what (AFC) Sudbury did to them when they under-estimated them (in the FA Cup this season), so who knows?

“Dartford are third in National South but Yeovil and Wealdstone are National Premier.

“This should be easier but it’s a cup game and if you watched Match of The Day, Boreham Wood knocked out Bournemouth 1-0 which was an amazing game. So anything can happen in a cup game as we know.”

There are also some appealing financial incentives on offer with the winning club tomorrow pocketing £6,000 in prize money alone while it will be £1,750 still for the losers.

“Financially a run in the FA Cup is better, of course, because the prize money is more. But even if we don’t win on Saturday we’ll make the best part of £20,000 in prize money this year so that’s good and well worth having,” said Nunn.

“But the thing is it’s more than just the money.

“For many of these players it could be the highlight of their career, I guess.

“It’s a big match and certainly the highlight of this season.

“Whether we can make the play-offs, and we certainly hope we can as we’ve got games in hand, or whatever happens in the league it will be looked upon as the season of the FA Trophy as this is by far the furthest we have got.”

Needham are expecting a bumper crowd to help roar them on and have made some special preparations to mark the day.

Nunn said: “We are publishing a commemorative 36-page programme which we’ve been working on.

“The pitch will be in good nick.

“They’ll bring a lot of fans, Ipswich are away. This will certainly be the place for Suffolk punters to be.

“We’ve had a lot of interest from people all over Suffolk and Norfolk who are coming.

“Hopefully it will be a great day, a great game and hopefully we will get through.”

Meanwhile, commerical manager David Clarke has revealed sales of club merchandise has more than trebled since the last round while stewards have also been borrowed from Ipswich Town to cope with staging the game.