St Albans City take a break from their Vanarama National League South promotion campaign on Saturday when they travel to Whitehawk in the FA Trophy third qualifying round.

And manager Ian Allinson is hoping this is the first step on the road to Wembley.

He said: “We know what it’s like down there. They’ve got an excellent home record and it’s going to be a tough game.

“But I want to do well in the Trophy and I’m not going to go there and accept second best.

“I want to keep our record going. [We’ve only lost once in the last 10 games – to Carlisle United] and we’ve got to keep doing what we’re doing. If we do that right, we might pick up a result.

“There’s always a chance we could get to Wembley. National South clubs have done it before so why not us?”

It is the start of a busy few days for the Saints.

If they are not required to host Whitehawk in a replay, City will follow their trip to Brighton with another visit to the coast on Tuesday when they go to Margate, back in National South action.

Allinson however, is not not phased by the way the fixtures have landed.

“That’s football,” he said. “We want to get as many games in as possible while the weather is good. We had a good pitch [at East Thurrock] but all we can do is get as many games in as we can.”