IT'S been a tough route to the final for Leiston, and Blues boss Chris Wigger says his side definitely deserve to be there.

The Blues were one of only four sides involved in this season’s two first-round ties, beating Bury Town away 1-0. Leiston then saw off old rivals Lowestoft Town 2-1, a young Ipswich Town XI 5-0 and AFC Sudbury 3-0 to reach the final.

Talking to the Suffolk FA website, Wigger said: “I have always understood the value that everyone at the football club places on the competition and we always take it seriously, although games do sometimes come at busy times of the season when you are playing Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday.

“Sometimes it is a shorter route to the final, such as when we lost to Needham Market on penalties in the final at Colchester United, but we were looking back the other day at who we have had to play in this season’s competition, and we have played some really good sides, so we definitely deserve to be in the final.”

Since defeating fellow Pitching In Southern League Premier Central side AFC Sudbury in the last four, Leiston have lost striker Jamar Loza to promotion-chasing Kettering Town.

“Jamar has been fantastic for us. We had turned down three earlier offers from Kettering Town but couldn’t say no to a crazy offer for a player with only four or five weeks left on his contract.

“He had expressed his desire to leave in the summer and play at a higher-level next season, so it was an offer we couldn’t turn down,” said Wigger.

Leiston have had injury concerns in recent weeks and could be missing five first-team squad regulars including Adam Mills, who is cup-tied.

Ismael Fatadjo has a knee injury, Wyatt Hill hasn’t played since hurting his ankle in the semi-final, Oli Yun remains a doubt with a calf problem, while Cameron Rayworth is waiting to hear if he can play with a splint on a facture to his hand.

Leiston beat Banbury United 3-0 at home on Saturday and are now ninth in the table and five points adrift of the final play-off spot with just four matches remaining.

Teenagers Stan Horne, Ewan Parlett and Billy Jordan all came on as second-half substitutes for their first-team debuts.

Wigger said: “We had three 17-year-old debutants on Saturday. They have been involved with the first-team squad on and off during the season, but it was the right time to introduce them as they may be involved on Wednesday.

“We are in a position where we have had injuries over the last four or five weeks, whereas earlier in the season we were relatively injury-free, so we have had to blood some of our younger players with a view to Wednesday and also next season.”