A place in the second round of the FA Cup for Eastbourne Borough would be extra special for one man in particular.

Chairman Len Smith has served the club for 44 years, watching it grow from a parks side to playing in the top tier of non-league football.

The 62-year-old has been one of the major driving forces in the club’s remarkable rise.

Borough have progressed so far in their short history and reaching the second round for the first time in their history with victory at home to Barrow tomorrow would be another notch on their list of achievements.

While neighbours and great rivals Lewes were this week in financial meltdown, Borough continue to command huge respect for the solid foundations Smith has helped build the club on.

His efforts were acknowledged recently when he was acclaimed Business Person of the Year at the 2008 Eastbourne Business Awards.

Now he hopes to follow that with a win against Barrow and a possible second round clash with the likes of Leeds and Leicester.

Smith said: “We have never got to the second round before so it would be another bit of progress.

“There is always something special about the FA Cup, an extra atmosphere at the matches.

“To get through would be great, not just for the money and potential earnings but for the chance of drawing a league club in the next round. I suppose you would call it the magic of the Cup.”

A founder member of the club, Smith knocked on doors of local residents in the early days selling scratch cards to raise money to build Priory Lane. He did the entire design for the stadium himself and it was built solely by committee members and volunteers.

Since then Smith has done all sorts of jobs including treasurer, secretary, manager of the Sunday side, entertainments manager for clubhouse functions and serving behind the bar.

That has been the ethos of a club, who rely on volunteers apart from three full-time staff.

Smith, who puts in 60 hours a week at Priory Lane, said: “I was taken back by the award because I didn’t know it was coming. It was quite an honour.

“Sometimes people forget about the behind the scenes people. They see the matches but don’t realise what goes on behind the scenes which is just as important.”

Borough are currently four points above the relegation zone in Blue Square premier, which is not bad for a side tipped to go back down.

Smith said: “We are on track. It has been disappointing at times to lose or drop points by odd goals but we knew it would be very difficult this year and we are where we would hope to be.

“This is a year of consolidation. We are doing well and learning as we go.”

Borough will be without Paul Armstrong and Karleigh Osborne for tomorrow’s game.

Captain Armstrong suffered an ankle injury at Northwich last Saturday but is only expected to be out for a couple of weeks after a scan revealed there is no fracture.

Defender Osborne has been recalled by Brentford at the end of his month’s loan, although Borough would like to have him back in the future.

Coach Nick Greenwood said: “We will monitor that in the next couple of weeks but Brentford have some short-term injury problems and Karleigh is going straight in the squad for their game with Havant.

“He has enjoyed his time with us and has done well.”

Young Millwall striker Lyle Taylor, who extended his loan for a second month earlier in the week, is eligible for the game while Marc Pullan, Darren Budd and Chris Winterton come into the squad which won at Northwich.

Borough recently lost 3-1 away to Barrow but Greenwood is hopeful the team can progress with a good crowd behind them.

Greenwood said: “Home advantage is significant because it is a long way for them to come. We saw enough in the game there to think we have a good chance of making progress but we will have to play well.

“They are a good side and there are parallels with us in that they came up via the play-offs and kept the majority of the squad, tweaking it with one or two players.

“Hopefully a big crowd can make it a really good occasion. If they get behind us it will really help.”