Celtic Nation v Dunston UTS
The FA Cup with Budweiser
Preliminary Round
3pm, Saturday 25 August 2012
The BRSA Railway Club Ground, Celtic Nation FC
Winning clubs receive £1750 from The FA's prize fund
Click here for fixtures

Dunston UTS continue their FA Cup campaign away at Celtic Nation on Saturday still buoyed by their FA Vase triumph last season.

Billy Irwin’s men went all the way to Wembley in May before picking up the silverware and the manager, now in his 15th year at the club, has seen the positive effects the unlikely victory has had.

"The Vase win raised our profile massively," admitted Irwin.

"We are a small club, one of the smallest in the league and we don’t have a lot of money. There are a lot of clubs that have spent huge sums to get success and failed but we didn’t.

"We have an average budget and what we did last year was just unbelievable.

"The club has grown massively in terms of support and winning The Vase is the highlight of anyone’s career. This is my 15th year at the club, as a player and manager, and it is just a great club to be at."

Perhaps the hangover from the champagne-soaked celebrations from that 3-2 win over West Auckland Town back in May have carried over into August as Irwin’s men have made a disappointing start to their new campaign. But they are looking forward to getting their season on track with further progress in The FA Cup sponsored by Budweiser

"We have had a slow start in the league, it has been a bit of poor start having lost our last two games but it hasn’t been through lack of trying, things have just not gone our way," added Irwin.

"We won our FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round with a good performance but we have brought new players in and it is going to take time to gel so we are a bit frustrated at the moment but hopefully we can change that on Saturday.

"I got three new players in and that was all I wanted on top of the squad I have, so I am sure that the club will pull together and we will start firing again. It was a hectic summer and we haven’t really had a break after The Vase success, but we are back in it now and we can’t wait to get going."