Kidderminster's Matt Preston has sights on National League after FA Cup heroics

Preston was named man-of-the-match as Harriers came within a whisker of causing the biggest upset in Cup history against West Ham on Saturday.

It capped a surreal few weeks for the former Walsall centre-back, who was making his first appearance in the FA Cup this season having only joined on a two-month loan from Solihull Moors on January 21.

The 26-year-old is now eager to help Harriers, who sit third in the National League North table, win promotion back to the top tier of non-league football after six seasons away.

Asked what was so special about Russ Penn’s team after they took the Premier League Hammers to the brink, he replied: “Without stating obvious facts, the players are too good for the league.

“You have people like Omari (Sterling) and Ash Hemmings. Morgs (Amari Mogan-Smith) put in an unbelievable shift on Saturday.

“His hold up play against some of the best centre-backs in the world was superb. We have players who are too good for the league. That is why we are going to get promoted.”

Alex Penny’s 19th minute goal had Harriers on the verge of becoming the first club from English football’s sixth tier to ever knock one from the top flight out of the cup.

Declan Rice’s heartbreaking equaliser, in the first minute of stoppage time, was the first goal they had conceded since Preston joined the club. In an even crueller twist, Jarrod Bowen then got the winner with virtually the last kick of extra time just as the hosts appeared to have forced penalties.

Despite the gut-wrenching nature of defeat, Preston’s performance still deservedly drew wide acclaim, with Match Of The Day pundit Danny Murphy comparing him to John Terry. Preston revealed he and his Harriers team-mates had also received plenty of praise from their opponents after the contest. Both Rice and Hammers boss David Moyes admitted they had been fortunate to win the game.

“All of them were really nice to us. I was sat on the floor and Andriy Yarmolenko came and picked me up and said: ‘Don’t be down, you’ve done unbelievable.’

“And Declan Rice came in afterwards and said: ‘You deserved more from that game’.

“So they were all very, very nice, they weren’t big time at all, which you sometimes get.”

Preston continued: “I’m obviously disappointed we conceded but it was to West Ham and we did shut them out for 90 minutes so there are some massive positives to take.

“We can accept conceding a goal to West Ham, sort of, especially when they can bring on a fresh Declan Rice whose worth has just been valued at £100million against a lot of tired players, he’s going to do something like that. I could have personally stopped it – but I can’t take it back now. One lapse in concentration – that’s the difference in the leagues. In the end they had to bring on their best players so we have to take credit for that.”

Boss Penn said: “Matt can’t even believe he is in this position now, where three weeks ago he wasn’t in the Solihull squad.

“He has bought into what we are doing and he is part of the journey.”