It’s safe to say that Sutton United’s clash with Ebbsfleet United at Gander Green Lane on Saturday is the biggest non-League fixture around these parts for five years.

Not since AFC Wimbledon made it into the Football League, eventually beating Luton Town on that emotional afternoon at Manchester City’s ground, has there been a match that has meant so much.

It is first against second in the Vanarama National League South and victory for Sutton would, by all but a statistical freak, seal promotion to the National League.

Sutton went top for the first time this season with a 2-0 win over Bishop's Stortford on Monday, but their march to the summit has been relentless in recent weeks.

Seven wins from their past eight games means the title and the automatic promotion position a realistic possibility.

Sutton’s recent experience in the play-offs has surely been added motivation for manager Paul Doswell throwing all of his eggs into trying to claim top spot, despite a slow start to the season.

Four play-off defeats in the past seven years, including semi-final reverses to Welling in 2012 and Dover two years ago, are an all too recent reminder of the perils of the alternative.

Doswell is hoping for a crowd of more than 3,000 for cheer his side on for what could be a glorious occasion on Saturday.

That would be a remarkable show of faith in a club that was in the Ryman League when he became manager eight years ago.

Some of next season’s potential rivals – Tranmere, Wrexham and Grimsby – pull in the best part of 5,000 most weeks while Sutton’s average gate was 869 when they last played in non-League’s top flight, when it was the Conference, in 1999-2000.

Their average gate this season is already much higher than that and those £99 season tickets being offered for next season are starting to look like even better value.

Let’s hope the people of Sutton turn out in their numbers for potentially the most glorious occasion at Gander Green Lane since beating Coventry in the FA Cup.