Isuzu FA Vase fifth round preview – Dave King shines as Bilston Town reach the round of 16

By Andy Mitchell

Dave King is determined to savour every second of Bilston Town’s FA Vase adventure – particularly the pies and Guinness!

A stalwart of the Black Country circuit, summer appointment King admits the prospect of Vase glory barely crossed his mind having fallen at the first hurdle in five of his seven seasons in charge of nearby Tividale.

Six months later and he has already bagged more Vase wins with the Steelmen – five – than his entire Tividale tenure, teeing up a tantalising all-Step 6 tie with North West Counties League Division One North title-hopefuls Droylsden.

It guarantees the level will be represented in this season’s quarter-finals, the stage that Bilston reached back in 1993 before climbing to the sharp end of Non-League’s third tier during the club’s most successful spell in the latter part of that decade.

Journey

After putting Town back on the map and waiting so long to get this far up the road to Wembley, who could blame King for sampling every bit of enjoyment it has to offer.

“I reckon I’ve got the worst record in this competition up to now,” King told The NLP.

“When I was at Tividale, we got through one round in the first six years. Leon Murray (Tividale secretary) would joke about it.”

“I had decent results in the FA Cup but not the Vase and football is funny like that.”

“The record was terrible, so now we’re having a bit of fun with it and enjoying the journey.”

Luck

“Round by round, we look at who we have. I go with Kieran (Bustin, assistant) to watch whoever we’re playing and we usually end up with a great big steak and kidney pie and chips, maybe a Guinness as well – along with the football that is paramount!”

“I’ve been in the game for a long time and you need that bit of luck.”

While Bilston certainly earned the last-16 berth, that luck was required in trumping higher-ranked Gresley Rovers 1-0 at Queen Street with visiting striker Sam Moore thundering against the underside of the bar from point-blank range in the eighth minute of added time.

“Nine times out of ten their lad probably wouldn’t have missed that,” acknowledged King.

Dreaming

“That’s why you have to take it as it comes, take it all in and really enjoy it for what it is. Things like this don’t come around all the time and I know that better than anyone.

“This can be a great game but also a very cruel one. We’d be shooting ourselves in the foot if we didn’t enjoy this.”

“You’ve got to dream, haven’t you? Last 16, you have to have a chance.”

“It starts out with 600-odd teams entering the competition and Bilston Town is in that last 16 – I keep having to repeat it because it is unbelievable.”

STRIKE: Bilston’s Louie Newbold rifles in a shot