BRIGHTLINGSEA Regent captain Matt Cripps is facing a race against time to be fit for the biggest game of his career.

The defender has been sidelined with knee ligament damage and is “touch and go” for Saturday’s FA Cup third qualifying round showdown against Football League side Torquay United.

However, he trained with his team-mates on Thursday evening and, assuming he suffers no ill effects, hopes to feature against the Gulls.

“It’s a strange one for me because I haven’t played in the FA Cup yet this season, having been injured for the games against Cambridge City and Egham,” said Cripps.

"I still don’t know for sure that I’ll be fit for Saturday.

“It’s taken longer than I thought (to recover) and I’ve been doing a lot of work with our physio.

“When we got through the Egham game, my aim was to get fit for the next FA Cup tie.

“But it’s still touch and go.

“I trained last night and we’ll make a decision from there.

“It’s a real shame but these things happens in football.

“You get injuries and while I’d dearly love to play, I have to think long-term. I can’t risk making it worse.

“If it was as easy as getting through this one game, I’d do it.

“But with a knee injury, you can’t rush it because otherwise you run the risk of causing more damage.

“Then I’d be out for even longer.”

Cripps was at the club on Thursday evening for a special photoshoot with the FA Cup silverware, organised by the FA.

He, manager Tom Rothery and chairman Terry Doherty posed with the famous trophy, watched by a crowd of supporters who flocked to the Taydal Stadium.

“It was a strange experience but very special, when you think of the top players who have held the trophy,” added skipper Cripps.

“To have it here is crazy and a bit surreal.

“In terms of the way I’m feeling about the game, it’s a mixture of excitement and nerves at the moment.

“If you can’t get up for a game like this, you’re never going to get up for a game of football.

“Since I’ve been here we’ve never had a cup run.

“This is the biggest game I’ve been involved in, in terms of the competition, how far we’ve got and who we’re playing.

“Torquay will bring a lot of fans and hopefully our supporters will turn out and get behind the boys.

“People forget where Torquay have come from and it was only a couple of years ago they were playing in the Football League.

“They’re a very big club and it’s a massive draw for us.

“That said, we’ve got a chance. It’s cup football and anything can happen.

“It’s unfortunate that we’re going into the game on the back of a poor result on Tuesday (losing 1-0 at home to Potters Bar Town), which followed a very good result on Saturday (winning 3-2 at Folkestone Invicta).

“But maybe that will work to our advantage because everyone wants to put things right.”

Cripps suffered his injury - to his left knee - in Regent’s Bostik League 1-1 draw at Corinthian Casuals on September 1.

He joined in with the warm-up before the last two games and was on the bench for both, but would only have been pitched into action if absolutely necessary.

Torquay are travelling to Essex on Friday, having a training session at Five Lakes and then spending the night at a hotel on the outskirts of Colchester.

It had been hoped Saturday’s tie would be picked for live TV coverage by the BBC.

However, the broadcaster instead plumped for the clash between Peterborough Sports and Chorley.