THE SATURDAY INTERVIEW: with Kingstonian's Ian Duerden EVERY action has an equal and opposite reaction, according to Isaac Newton.

Where does his theory apply more than to the FA Cup?

The joy and glory it can bring is matched by the despair and misery it can cause.

Who didn't feel for Kingstonian last weekend? The Conference minnows were just seconds from a place in the fifth round when Bristol City cruelly scored their equaliser.

Grown men broke down in tears as an historic win slipped away.

Former Burnley man Ian Duerden, who signed for the Ks just a couple of months ago, was there, but he didn't cry.

"You have to expect some tears," said the 22-year-old from Blackburn. "For most of the lads this is the pinnacle of their careers.

"It might be the only chance some of the players ever get to play against a big club.

"As soon as Bristol City scored a few of the lads just sank to the ground and they had to get off the pitch quickly because they were welling up."

After holding out for 93 minutes, the Ks let it slip right at the death, the last kick of the game.

"They were missing everything and we were thinking 'we're going to win this'," said a devastated Duerden.

"And after all the near-misses they had during the game they had to go and scrape one in at the end.

"I keep going through it in my head, thinking 'four minutes of injury time!'"

The Kingstonian boss Geoff Chapple wouldn't let the lads' heads drop.

"Geoff came in to the dressing room and said 'you should be proud of yourselves' and remember we are not out of it yet.

"I think we have a chance in the replay."

And so, too, do the other players.

"The cameras were down there when the draw was made for the fifth round and they interviewed one of the lads.

"He was talking as if we were definitely through to face Chelsea, he had to keep correcting himself!"

So the two teams go through it all again at Kingstonian's Kingsmeadow Ground on Wednesday.

They were going to play it at Brentford's Griffin Park, but switched it back to Kingsmeadow after Sky, with their £100,000, decided to screen the game live.

With Kingstonian, Duerden is now playing the lowest level of football since he turned pro at 18. But, ironically, he is experiencing some of the highest points of his career.

As a junior in the Blackburn town team he played alongside Southampton star James Beattie -- "we used to rip some defences apart" -- later signing as a schoolboy with Burnley where he progressed right through to the first team.

Sadly, things didn't work out at Turf Moor and Duerden moved to Doncaster at 19 and then on to Kingstonian just a couple of months ago.

He came just at the right time to climb aboard the FA Cup bandwagon.

"The media interest has been amazing," he said. "We trained on the Thursday night before the game and they were all over the place.

"We were supposed to start training at 7pm but we didn't get out until about 8.30pm and they were still there.

"It was an eye-opener anyway. I am only 22 and it certainly gives you more of a spur to get back up there."

Another irony of the FA Cup is that sides that do well in it often aren't playing well in the league.

Kingstonian aren't exactly setting the world alight in the Conference. In fact, they are dangerously near to the bottom of the league.

"We have deserved the plaudits we have been given for the Cup run but we want to push up in the league," said Duerden.

"We are not doing so well but we have got a few games in hand because of the games we have missed because of the Cup, so I think we will finish mid-table." With many Conference sides going full-time -- the Ks are still part-time -- and with the non-League minnows showing how easy it can be against lower division League sides, Duerden reckons Kingstonian's success this season is only the tip of the iceberg.

"I don't think the gulf between the Conference and the second and third division is that big," he said.

"I think the gulf between first and second is big and the Premiership is an even bigger jump.

"But even against some Premiership clubs you'd fancy your chances.

"If we were to play United or Chelsea then you have to accept there is only so much we can do, it could be a battering, embarrassing, but with the draws we have had in the Cup we knew we had a chance.

"Leicester -- who we'd play in the next round -- is a team you'd think you have a slim chance against, like Dagenham and Redbridge against Charlton.

"But I think if we played Manchester United we would get a battering, no doubt."

Duerden was attached to Burnley from the age of 14, and never wanted to leave, but the manager Chris Waddle made it clear he wasn't in his plans. Duerden was 'pushed to one side' and moved to Doncaster.

"I played a game for Burnley against Bristol Rovers at the beginning of the season and I don't know what happened. Chris Waddle seemed to shove me to one side.

"I just faded away in the reserves."

After a brilliant first season at Doncaster, when he scored 18 goals in 25 games, Duerden missed virtually the whole of last season with a groin injury.

"That wasn't what I needed after my first season. I had a really bad year last year and then a new manager came in and we didn't get on really.

"I have taken a step backwards but I needed the games. Obviously my aim is to get back into full-time football."

But, for now, he is just enjoying the joy and the magic.