Wroxham defender hoping to enjoy Wembley occasion.
The FA Carlsberg Vase
The Final
Winning club receives £20,000 and runner-up receives £10,000 Wroxham defender Martin McNeil believes the way in which his side have embraced The FA Vase this season can help them to victory at Wembley.
For a team who play in the Eastern Counties League, it is obviously a massive occasion for all concerned and McNeil revealed the Norfolk club are still in a little shock that they’ll be running out at the National Stadium to face Whitley Bay on Sunday.
“It’s not really sunk in that we’re going to be playing at Wembley,” admitted the 29-year-old.
“We know the Stadium won’t be packed but Lowestoft brought down a few thousand when they played AFC Fylde two years ago and there was something like 12,000 here for The Final last season so that’s a huge crowd for teams at this level.”
Victory over Whitehawk in the Semi-Final secured their place in the showpiece, but their adventure throughout The Vase campaign has helped to keep their season alive.
“It’s been an intense competition for us and we’ve played over a dozen games in The Vase this season,” added McNeil, who is in his second spell at the club.
“We’ve had about four games in hand on everyone else in the league because of it.
“But we’ve really stepped up to the plate and embraced the occasions and hopefully we can do the same on Sunday.
“Playing at Wembley is going to very different so that’s something that we’ll have to deal with in our preparations.”
To buy your copy of The FA Vase Final match programme, click here.
