Maidstone United manager Craig Fagan says the FA Cup ‘means so much’ to the club before second qualifying round tie at Cray Wanderers

Craig Fagan says the FA Cup “means so much” to Maidstone as they prepare to visit Cray Wanderers in the second qualifying round this weekend.

Fagan takes charge of his first game in the competition but his name is already ingrained in club history, having been assistant manager during the Stones’ run to the last 16 in 2024.

They pulled off a hat-trick of upset victories over Football League opposition, including a 2-1 success at Ipswich Town in round four.

So Fagan knows how dangerous the underdogs can be as he takes his National League South leaders to Isthmian Premier Cray on Saturday (3pm).

“The FA Cup is something that means so much to the football club,” said Fagan.

“We gained so much from it in terms of recognition from the whole country and doing well, but we have to start again.

“We have to go to Cray and show them the respect. It’s their big day, rightly so, playing against a team above.

“They will want to show how good they are against a team which is top of our league, so, like Braintree (2-1 league defeat last weekend), they will be going that extra yard and doing things a little bit quicker.

“It’s the same as it was for us when we had our FA Cup run.

“It’s a one-off game, it only takes one bit of magic, so it will be a tough test.

“We’ll have to match them, we have to show calmness with the football and we have to play our game and not be dictated to in the way we go about things.

“We didn’t do that well enough against Braintree and we need to be better against Cray.”

Winger Jayden Davis missed the Braintree defeat after feeling his hamstring and will be monitored before the match, with Fagan likely to make some changes.

“We’ve got one or two still struggling with knocks,” he said.

“We are where we are. I’m