Sutton United goalkeeper Paul Nicholls already has an FA Cup first round proper appearance to his name, but he admits it doesn’t stop him dreaming of doing it again.

The 27-year-old David Beckham Academy coach was part of the Rushden & Diamonds team that reached the second round last year after humbling League Two Macclesfield Town 3-1.

Injury forced him out of the subsequent money-spinning trip to Bristol Rovers at the next stage - which ended in a 5-1 defeat - and the former Chelsea youngster already has an eye on repeating the feat with Sutton.

Boss Paul Doswell’s men pocketed £3,000 from the first qualifying round win earlier this month and stand to add £4,500 to that bounty should they beat Ryman League Premier Division rivals Billericay Town on Saturday.

The cash injection would go a long way to helping the club finance its assault on promotion back to the Blue Square South at the first attempt.

And Nichols insists that while the money is an important part of the competition, it is the chance to play on the big stage that gets the juices flowing.

“It is huge to any non-League club to do well in this competition because it helps attract new players and helps keep players at the club as well,” he said.

“On a personal level it is the greatest competition to play in because you never know where it will take you. Everyone dreams of doing well in it.

“Even getting to the latter stages of the qualifying tournament is getting big now because there are some massive clubs in the Conference these days and there are big crowds to play in front.

“It would be nice to do what we did last year again, but you can’t dwell on things like that because it can affect you.”

Nicholls kept his second league clean sheet in Saturday’s 1-0 triumph over Canvey Island, which saw Billy Dunn notch a late winner - his eighth goal in three days after bagging seven in the youth team’s 14-0 win over Westfield.

The 17-year-old’s strike saw Sutton extend their unbeaten run to four matches and Nicholls - who wasn’t exactly kept busy between the sticks at the weekend - reckons there is no reason why it can’t continue.

“The quality we have in the squad means we are more than capable of putting a good run together. I don’t think I had a shot to save at the weekend,” he added.

“I was really pleased for Billy to get the goal. He has only trained with us a couple of times. He is still pretty raw, but it is good to have the young kids about. It has created a good buzz about the place.”

Sutton’s next three fixtures: Sept 27 Billericay Town (h), Oct 4 Maidstone United (a), Oct 11 Tonbridge Angels (h).