HAMWORTHY Boss Tim Sills believes nerves won’t be an issue as his charges take on Tunbridge Wells in the fifth round of the FA Vase.

Sills’ side sit top of the Wessex Premier League coming into the fixture, but despite leading his team to the last 16 of the national competition, the former Torquay and Stevenage man issued a reminder that Hammers are “still a long way from Wembley”.

Few will know better about achieving dreams of Wembley than Sills, who featured in three different finals at the home of football – scoring for Torquay as they were promoted to the Football League in 2009.

Speaking to the Daily Echo, Sills said: “The nerves shouldn't set in too much.

“We're still a long way from Wembley, really.

“As much as it's great that we've made a bit of history by getting this far for the first time ever, we don't want the journey to end now.”

In the previous round, Hamworthy came from behind to beat Southern Counties East Premier leaders Glebe FC 3-2.

Saturday’s opponents currently sit midtable in that same league, but despite theoretically Tunbridge being an easier proposition based on league positions, Sills is wary of the threat the Kent side pose.

He continued: “We know that the league that they come from is very strong, so in terms of league position, that doesn't really make much difference, because obviously with it being a strong league, they're all going to be strong teams.

“It's important for us just to really focus on the job, do our homework as much as we can to be prepared ourselves, and then we're always confident at home that we can get a result. But there'll certainly be no overconfidence.”

Since their last foray in the competition back in January, Hamworthy have taken over top spot in the Wessex Prem – with Sills keen for his side to continue fighting on multiple fronts.

“People say the Vase is a distraction,” added Sills. “It's a nice distraction when you've got league game after league game of trying to pick up three points, trying to get to the summit of the league and once you're there, trying to stay there and all those things that come with it.

“It's a really nice distraction to have a completely different game, one off, winner takes all, different mentality and all those sorts of things.

“League form has been good, could have been even better. But we come off the back of a very good result last Saturday, which should hopefully give us lots of confidence going into Saturday's game.”

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