By Paul Fletcher

Playing against Premiership teams - with all the national coverage it brought - did become a little surreal

The star performer in this season's Carling Cup will be at the Millennium Stadium on Sunday.

But he will not be lining up for Arsenal or Chelsea as the two Premiership giants compete for the season's first piece of silverware.

Instead Wycombe striker Jermaine Easter will be watching from the stands with a couple of mates.

Easter scored in every round as League Two outfit Wycombe defied expectations to reach the semi-finals.

The 25-year-old striker scored against Premiership opposition - Fulham, Charlton and Chelsea - to grab his fair share of pun-heavy headlines.

He also found the net against Swansea, Doncaster and Notts County.

His equaliser in the first leg of their semi-final against Chelsea delighted neutrals across the country, the tie finished 1-1, and kept alive hopes of a major upset.

The only game he failed to score in was the 4-0 second-leg defeat to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

"Playing against Premiership teams - with all the national coverage it brought to the club - did become a little surreal," Easter told BBC Sport.

"I had people on the phone all the time - but it was a sign we were doing well and I enjoyed doing the interviews."

The experience gave Easter a taste of what he craves - life for a footballer in the top divisions.

"I want to be in that limelight week in, week out," he added.

We are out of the Carling Cup now and can concentrate on what we have planned to do from the start - win promotion Jermaine Easter

"It has given me that appetite to be there week in, week out and not just in cup runs. That is the goal - I want to play at the highest level."

It almost happened as well.

Several clubs were reported to be targeting Easter on the back of his cup exploits.

Manchester City and Blackburn were linked with the player, while his club rejected three bids from unnamed clubs on January's transfer deadline day.

The recognition also brought Easter to the attention of Wales boss John Toshack and the forward made his international debut as a second-half substitute against Northern Ireland on 7 February.

His international cap has pride of place at his parent's house and the debt was the "icing on the cake" to a superb couple of months.

It is a measure of how far Easter has come this season that before the campaign started he had not even thought about the possibility of playing for his country.

"It was not in my mind at all," he revealed. "I did not think about it in the slightest".

Yet for all that the Carling Cup has been of huge benefit to Easter he remain in no doubt that the season will have a hollow feel to it if Wycombe are not celebrating promotion in May.

Easter relished testing himself against top players

Wycombe were well placed for automatic promotion last season but fell away and lost to Cheltenham in a play-off semi-final. Under new manager Paul Lambert there is a determination to ensure history does not repeat itself.

"During the cup run perhaps some of the lads were focusing on the bigger games but the league is our bread and butter," added Easter.

"We are out of that now and can concentrate on what we have planned to do from the start - and that is win promotion.

"The end of last season was very disappointing. Everyone wants to put that right and we are now 100% focused."

Wycombe are currently seventh in the League Two table but Easter is quick to point out that they have to play four of the teams above them at home.

"If we get 12 points from those games then we have a great chance," he said.

Easter set himself a personal target at the start of the season but with 22 goals in all competitions so far, has had to lift the bar.

He was on target in the 4-0 win over Bury last weekend and for the moment, has put to one side all talk of moving on.

Easter knows that the best way to achieve his ambitions is to keep scoring.

That way he might just make a childhood dream come true.