AS a young central defender, Winchester City boss Ian Saunders featured in the FA Cup first round for Plymouth Argyle.

It would be a dream come true if he could lead the Citizens that far as a manager but, for now, a third qualifying round victory at Harrow Borough on Saturday would be plenty to be going on with.

Saunders has had quite a love affair with the Cup over the last year or so.

Against all odds he led his previous charges Petersfield Town to the third qualifying round, toppling Weymouth and Cirencester along the way and only narrowly losing 1-0 to Conference South visitors St Albans.

He is working his magic again with City who, after a shock 4-0 dismantling of two-leagues-higher Truro City, are just one round away from matching the club’s greatest ever Cup runs of 1929/30, 30/31 and 54/55.

“The FA Cup still gives me goose bumps,” smiled Saunders.

“As a nipper I played for Plymouth in the first round against Cambridge before being released.

“It’s the same hard-luck story lots of kids go through and I don’t tend to dwell on it.

“I went into non-League and then into the Army. Life moves on.

“But being in the first round is something I’d love to replicate as a manager. Eastleigh and Totton have done it - wouldn’t it be great if Winchester could do it too.”

First thing’s first though and City have a sizeable hurdle to overcome at Harrow.

The Reds, 19th in Ryman Premier, blow hot and cold. They beat Dulwich Hamlet 4-1 on Tuesday – three days after taking a 5-0 hammering at Merstham.

Saunders himself witnessed their 1-0 defeat to Wingate & Finchley and said: “They’ve got a nice big pitch in an enclosed ground in the middle of an estate and quite vocal supporters.

“They’re what you’d expect of a Ryman Prem side – full of pace and endeavour, lads who can score and a decent goalkeeper.

“But we’re going up with a players’ coach and a supporters’ coach, we’ll have a game plan and we can hopefully apply ourselves for 90 minutes.

“We can go there relatively free. We’re not expected to win, but if we get a bit of luck and play to the best of our ability we’ve got half a chance. Hopefully it'll be a humdinger!

“Some cash in the bank would be nice (prize money is £7,500) and we want to keep that FA Cup feel-good factor going for as long as possible.”

Winchester travel to the Earlsmead Stadium buoyed by a 1-0 midweek win at Wantage in the Southern One South & West – their fourth straight league and cup success.

Robbie Matthews is cup-tied, having played the full 90 minutes on Tuesday, so Ross Bottomley comes back into central defence.