HISTORY is there for the making when Buckland Athletic travel to Newport Pagnell Town in the last 16 of the FA Vase tomorrow (3pm).

Both sides can equal their best ever run in the competition with a victory, which would also see the winners move just two rounds away from Wembley.

More than 600 tickets have already been sold for the fifth round encounter, with the hosts hopeful that their highest attendance record may tumble.

For the travelling Bucks it’s been a bit of an up-and-down season so far in the league. A 1-1 draw away at Bitton last weekend leaves them 12th in the Western League Premier Division, with 10 wins, six draws and nine defeats from their 25 games so far.

But the Vase has been a different story. Victories against Camelford (3-0), Falmouth Town (3-1), Wellington (2-0) and Egham Town (2-1) have seen Paul Froude’s side reach this stage for just the second time in their history.

‘Everyone is really excited,’ said Froude earlier this week. ‘There’s a really good mood around the whole camp.

‘We’ve been a bit hot and cold in the league so far this season, and it’s hard to know why that is, really.

‘But the Vase has been different. All of the bad results seem to be forgotten for those games and we’ve gone out there and performed.

‘We’ve come a long way but we’re certainly not ready to bow out of the competition just yet. We feel like we still have more to give.’

The last time Buckland reached this stage was back in 2017, when they were eventually knocked out by Bromsgrove Sporting in the quarter-finals.

‘It will definitely the biggest game of our managerial career for Milts’ [assistant manager Nick Milton] and myself,’ Froude admitted.

‘We’ve both previously managed clubs at a lower level in the pyramid, and days like Saturday are the reason why we joined this club.

‘We’re eager to see what Newport Pagnell are all about, and hopefully we can give a good account of ourselves up there.

‘We’ve seen some clips of them so we’ve been able to see what some of their strengths and weaknesses may be. I don’t think they’ll be too dissimilar from a lot of Step Five sides.’

Saturday’s hosts Newport Pagnell ply their trade in the United Counties League Premier Division South, where they currently sit third.

They’ve won 19 of their 26 matches, and in the Vase they’ve overcome Harpenden Town (1-0), London Colney (1-0), Leighton Town (1-1, penalties), Whittlesey (6-0) and Fakenham (3-1) to set up tomorrow’s game.

Like the Bucks, Gary Flinn’s side also enjoyed their best Vase run during the 2016/17 season, exiting in the last eight at the hands of eventual winners South Shields.

Swans’ head of football Viv Cox, who oversees all of the club’s footballing operations, flew back from a work trip in America this week to attend the fixture.

‘We want to be a sustainable community club,’ Cox explained. ‘As well as our first and development teams we have more than 30 youth teams.

‘That we are where we are in the league is a credit to the coaches. It’s an unforgiving division and there are some teams with pretty irrational budgets, but I can’t fault anything the management team have done.

‘We’ve also had some good gates this year, helped in part by having some local boys in the squad. Two or three years ago we were getting between 80 and 100 spectators – now we’re getting double that on a cold Tuesday evening.

‘We had more than 600 fans in the last round of the FA Vase and we’ve already sold 600 tickets for this round. Our attendance record is in the late 700s, so we’re hoping that might go.

‘In the spirit of the Vase our profits will be split with Buckland, too – which is one of the beauties of this competition.’

With a bumper crowd expected, spectators are encouraged to get to Willen Road as soon as possible to soak up the atmosphere.

‘We will offer everyone a great welcome,’ Cox added. ‘I’d encourage people to get to the clubhouse as early as they can.

‘We’re a very welcoming club and we’re all looking forward to the event. There was a brilliant atmosphere in our last game and we hope to repeat that on Saturday.’

Ticket prices on the day:

Adults £8.50

Concessions £6.50

Under-16s £4.50

Programmes will be on sale, costing £2.