Chasetown hero Smith talks us through his glory week as he prepares to shoot down the Bluebirds

Smith, 20, talks to Sportsmail's Neil Moxley through the biggest week in the club's existence as they prepare to take on Championship side Cardiff.

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MONDAY The build-up has started. Since December 22, we have had as many games as the professionals — four — and everyone wants to beat us after we made the third round and drew Cardiff.

We have had a guard of honour from a few teams who have clapped us on to the pitch since we beat Port Vale.

That's great, but you can see the opposition thinking to themselves: "We're going to do this lot," as they stand there applauding.

Sky Sports came round to my house. I didn't tell my mum, Julie. I did that deliberately because she would have been nervous if I'd let on.

My dad, Steve, loved every minute of it, mind you. He was on the pitch, giving interviews and all sorts after the win over Port Vale.

It was a bit of payback really. They've done a lot for me over the years, ferrying me around, so they deserve their moment in the spotlight.

TUESDAY We had a game against Stourport Swifts. I started the game and scored. There were some television cameras there as well, so I'll make sure I get a copy of it all.

I won't watch too closely, though, as we should have won more easily than 2-1, while I missed a few as well. I was happy with the goal, as every striker is, but I should have had a couple more.

It's difficult to know whether people are pleased for us or jealous. I came into the bar before the game to get an energy drink and one of their players said: "Have you got a game on Saturday?" with a straight face.

I went to say: "Oh yeah, Cardiff, brilliant," but then I realised he was winding me up. After the match, it was different. They were saying: "Go and win it for our league."

A couple of years ago, when we played Oldham, a lot of players from other teams in the league came and watched us because the game was on a Sunday.

That was nice of them, but this season one of the opposition managers in the league gave a dossier to Port Vale about us, and that didn't go down too well.

We can only get around 2,000 people in at the Scholars Ground and even we haven't got many tickets. I'm struggling for one for my Uncle Barry. I didn't know he wanted to come, so I'm still trying to scrounge one.

WEDNESDAY The FA Cup turned up at Chasetown today. How good was that? I always dreamed about playing for Liverpool and picking up the FA Cup at Wembley, but I lifted it today and didn't have to travel anywhere. It came to us, thanks to the sponsors!

The manager had told us to report to the clubhouse for 5.45pm because we were having a team photo with the FA Cup. It's not every day you say that, is it? It's not a bad excuse either for those lads who struggle to leave work early.

Training was at 7pm and manager Charlie Blakemore went through a few set-piece routines. It's not too strenuous. We're playing all the time, so we're pretty fit.

I think he just wanted to concentrate on the build-up. Everyone is excited. You can feel it around the club already.

THURSDAY We had a session on the astroturf pitch at Burntwood Leisure Centre. You might ask why we don't train on the pitch, but the simple fact is that we don't want to ruin it. We've had a few games on it recently and we don't have training facilities.

We have this contract with the local leisure centre, so we might as well use theirs.

There were a few cameras down there again and jokes were flying around that a few of the squad have had their hair done especially for the game. No one is owning up to anything, of course.

The one most likely to have it done is Ben Steane, our midfielder. There's even a song about him — 'He's blond, he's red, he loves the sunbed, Benny Steane'.

We had Zoo magazine contact us recently and ask who would be the most likely to pop into the hairdressers. It's Ben, no question about that. We told him what we'd said about him and he popped down to the newsagent even though we had killed him. He loved it. That lad has no shame.

FRIDAY We met up at 1.15pm today to take up Wolves' offer of using their training centre at Compton.

They have a game against Cambridge United to prepare for, but we were allowed to use any of the facilities once they had finished.

I think they spent £3million building it, so we have looked forward to it all week. They are reasonably close to us and the main club around here to support is Wolves, so it's a goodwill gesture that has gone down well.

I don't know how Cardiff boss Dave Jones will feel about that, though. After all, he used to be manager of Wolves.

After that, we travelled to the team hotel near Wolverhampton, a fairly novel concept for us. We had one booked before the tie against Team Bath in the first round and also when we played Oldham a couple of years ago. It's a real eyeopener and it does make you feel like a professional.

It sounds silly but the little things — like having your name on the back of your shirt — really mean a lot.

Talking of shirts, we've been banned from asking any of the Cardiff players for theirs. The boss wants us to approach this as properly as we can and not become star-struck.

We've been waiting for this all week with steadily mounting anticipation.

I just hope now that we stick together and do ourselves proud.

Even if we don't, though, I've just had a week I won't forget in a long time.