Hastings refusing to roll over in FA Cup battle with Middlesbrough While the Queen tends to dispatch a family representative to Cup finals at Wembley, one could hardly fault Walters" optimism. His club stand a modest 17th in the Isthmian League Premier, 130 places below the Middlesbrough side whom they confront in the third round on Saturday, but he retains the same ironclad belief that propelled these players to their day in the sun at the Riverside. It has provided lucrative business for a section of the south coast well acquainted with economic hardship. "We're still selling tickets and some people are even making their way directly to Middlesbrough by plane," Walters said. We believe that around 1,000 fans are coming on the day. Most Championship clubs don't take anything like that number of supporters to Teesside, so it's quite an achievement. The significance of this match for Hastings, the lowest-ranked club left in the competition, was reflected in the fact that 100 fans were admitted into the evening's press conference. Walters felt they deserved to toast the occasion, although there was an awkward moment when he was asked how many players would receive a bonus for their remarkable Cup progress. "I want to know who set up that question," Walters said, half-joking. "And I want to hear the answer," said Sean Ray, the player-manager sitting alongside him. The truth is that none of them will enjoy any extra remuneration, since nobody at Pilot Field is on contract. "It emphasises what an accomplishment this is for the guys," Walters explained. Most clubs at our level of the game can't afford to give out contracts. We have had one or two in the past but this year, not one. But we are looking after them. We intend to send them off on a holiday at the end of the season to celebrate this fantastic run. They were savouring the novelty yesterday of a photo-shoot at Battle Abbey, dressed in King Harold and William the Conqueror garb, as if their ominous task had a touch of 1066 about it. Their league form would suggest as much - a 3-3 draw with Lewes on Sunday was their seventh straight draw - but Ray remained cautiously optimistic. "If we don't go there with belief, we might as well not turn up," the centre-half, 31, said. The longer we stay in the game, the more frustrated Middlesbrough will be. We know the way they play, how they set up. We'll be as organised and disciplined. It's going to be a tough ask, as nine out of 10 of these games you lose, but there's always that chance.