The Oystermen have done it! Matt Longhurst joined The Kent Morning Show to react to the historic achievement.
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00:00We've got a really young group, but yeah, I mean, individually for obviously all of us, it's kind of Boyer dream stuff, just unbelievable.
00:09You can't even really comprehend it quite yet that we're going to play at the National Stadium.
00:14Just even obviously for myself, just being able to walk out of the stadium with my little Boyer and just share that experience with him is just unbelievable.
00:23And as for obviously all the players, even obviously the manager, he's 42 and what a pinnacle for his career as well, being able to hopefully hang his boots up at Wembley Stadium for the last time.
00:35Our kit man retires at the end of the season as well, which he'd already announced, so it's his last game and what a place to be able to put your kit out.
00:41So yeah, it's just brilliant. Like I say, it hasn't quite sunk in as yet, but I'm sure it will come.
00:49We're so busy with fixtures, we've got another game tomorrow and we've got a cup final on Sunday as well.
00:53So it's a busy period, but we're certainly going to enjoy the moment.
00:58And what's been the response from the community?
01:00I was in Whitstable yesterday in the town and it was absolutely packed.
01:03I know Whitstable can be anyway, but I feel a lot of people would get heading into pubs, watching, try and watch the game, watch it along together.
01:10But what's been the response from the community?
01:11They really have backed the team, even people who haven't followed football.
01:16Yeah, again, we can't thank everybody enough.
01:18We've had great support. Obviously, the quarterfinal, there was two and a half thousand people in the stadium.
01:24Then the semi-final first leg, we had nearly 3,000 people, plus all the local pubs were packed.
01:29I mean, yesterday, you could just sense the whole thing around it.
01:33We stayed up in a hotel overnight, but we were getting loads of feedback about what was going on in the town.
01:39The clubhouse was absolutely rammed yesterday with people watching the game, obviously with the live stream, people's families, et cetera, et cetera.
01:46Now, the local community has really got behind us and we're just looking at sort of a Project 10,000, should we say,
01:53just to try and see how many people we really can get into Wembley and obviously get behind us,
01:58because we've got so many youth teams, parents, coaches that are obviously heavily involved with what we're doing.
02:05And obviously, with that, it reaches out to the local community, because there's a lot of people involved in the close-knit local community
02:12that have been or had people past and present that are part of the club.
02:16So, this really is for them as well.
02:18And like I say, I mean, I think there was eight pubs yesterday showing the game, all of which were packed,
02:24and there's already people putting out, they're going to run coaches from their pub,
02:28they're going to have breakfast put on and they're selling the tickets.
02:30And yeah, it's just absolutely fantastic.
02:33I mean, it's a brilliant area.
02:35It's a lovely place.
02:36I've got close links to it.
02:37My nan and granddad ran the yacht club there for 20 years.
02:40Not that I've ever lived there, but my mum's lived there.
02:42My uncle still lives in the town.
02:45So, just for myself, again, obviously, it's a great thing.
02:48But yeah, the local community has been absolutely fantastic, and the people at the football club.
02:54I mean, I can't speak highly enough of the chairman and people like Fran and Ron and Mike, etc, etc.
03:00There's so many people behind the scenes that deserve this day out.
03:05And I mean, you yourself know the importance of a competition like this for non-league football.
03:10You've worked in many clubs in the non-league scene in Kent and the FA Vars as well.
03:15It's a competition that rewards skill.
03:17It rewards the skill that you have at the club.
03:20It's not sort of similar to the FA Cup, where you can have a good run.
03:23You might get lucky in a penalty shootout or something like that.
03:27You've got here on merit.
03:30Yeah, absolutely.
03:31I mean, we've done some real due diligence.
03:33We've been up and down the country.
03:34One of our coaching staff, Taylor, has been up and down the country watching these teams.
03:38And we've put together a real strategic plan of how to win these games.
03:42And tactically, we've been on the money and the players have then delivered on task.
03:46Even yesterday at half-time, we had to change some stuff tactically.
03:51They were really good yesterday.
03:53Hartbury, they changed the way that they played slightly to the first leg.
03:56And we adapted that half-time.
03:58And again, like I say, credit goes to the players.
04:00But it's been a fantastic journey.
04:03We've had some real...
04:04We seem to have played all the favourites all the way along.
04:06We played Jersey Bulls right at the start that were the favourites.
04:09Wilshamley, Willows and Fleet Town were one of the favourites.
04:12These guys, I think, along with Whiteleaf, were the favourites prior to the semi-final.
04:16So, yeah, I mean, I got to the quarter-finals of the competition before.
04:21And it really put a big puncture in our season at Erethon Belvedere that year.
04:25And I was conscious of that.
04:27And Dan Eason, our goalkeeper coach, got to the semi-final with Herne Bay.
04:31And again, similar happened there as well.
04:33So, it was really important.
04:35The Kent Cup final was a real sort of galvanisation of our season.
04:40And it's given everybody sort of something to grab hold of.
04:42And we've got a lot of players that can play in this competition.
04:45Some that can't play in the Sunday one.
04:47Some that can't play in this one.
04:48And we've got a real big squad.
04:50And again, we took all of those players up with us yesterday.
04:53Some players weren't even involved yesterday.
04:55There was four players that were left out of the 16 that were actually available.
04:58So, that's tough news to deliver to young players that can't be involved in such a big game.
05:03But credit to all of them.
05:05Like, they've been fantastic as a group.
05:06And like I say, it's been a great journey.