DISS Town chairman Dickie Upson says the time is right for the club to have a run in the FA Vase but warned they have a potential banana skin to overcome today.

Upson, who has been involved with the club for more than 50 years since he first played for the ‘A’ team as a 13-year-old, was secretary when Diss won the Vase at Wembley in 1994 – the only Ridgeons League side to do so.

The Norfolk side make the short trip this afternoon across the border in to Suffolk to face Kingsley Healthcare SIL Senior Division side Framlingham Town – believed to be the lowest ranked side in the competition – for a Second Qualifying Round tie after both receiving a bye to this stage.

Upson said: “The FA Vase holds some great memories for the club. Ever since that day we have not really had that much more success in the competition, and in the last four or five years we have not progressed past the first round.

“In those years we have been rebuilding the side, but we have now got to the next level in the Ridgeons League and we can now push on.”

Upson, who is the father of Stoke City centre half Matthew Upson, said he did not believe the club’s success had weighed heavily on their shoulders in the intervening years.

“1994 is a long time ago, and other than myself and a few others there is no-one else still involved in the club. Certainly none of the current players were around then so they don’t appreciate what it meant at the time.”

After being relegated at the end of the 2006/07 season, Diss won promotion at the fourth time of asking last season and two wins in the past week have seen Robert Taylor’s side climb to seventh place in the Premier Division with 15 points from ten games.

But despite the gulf in their status compared with today’s opponents, Upson said they will not be taking Framlingham lightly.

“Framlingham are a solid football club who have been around a long while and we are expecting a tough game.

“I have not seen them play, but I know manager Mel Aldis has taken several Debenham players with him to Framlingham.

“We are away from home and it could be a bit of a banana skin for us and we will need to stay focussed if we are to progress,” he added.