TOM Varndell says it’s time to start repaying the faith of the Wasps fans with silverware.

The winger scored twice in the 64-17 win over Viadana last weekend to help secure a home Amlin Challenge Cup quarter-final with Gloucester.

But he admits the black and gold army deserve more than quarter-finals after what they’ve been put through in recent season.

Varndell said: “We need to win silverware. The fans have stuck by us in some pretty lean years over the last five seasons and it’s important we get something from the season.

“We’ve had a good run so far and we’re doing well. But we’ve got to push on now.

“The quarter-finals aren’t good enough. We’ve got to be looking at the semi-finals and final and winning some silverware this year.”

Wasps are certainly a team finding their form this season.

Sunday’s cup triumph was their seventh win in eight games and on the back of that run Varndell believes Wasps can still challenge on two fronts.

He said: “There are a lot of positives from the season so far and hopefully going into the second half now we can push on.

“We’re in the Amlin Challenge Cup quarter-finals, we’re in the race for the top six in the Premiership and if we can do better than that and get into the play-offs then it’s anybody’s – it comes down to two games.

“I’m excited about the season and once the ground starts getting harder we’ve got some good backs who can finish and some forwards who can run the ball as well.

“As long as we keep doing the basics – our kicking game is coming on, our defence has gone well with Brad [Davis] – we’ve got a lot to be positive about.”

Not even the most ardent Wasps fan would be optimistic of the Premiership, but with a home quarter-final in the Amlin and a home semi-final awaiting the winners, the club can start thinking very seriously about European glory.

Varndell said: “With the Heineken Cup teams dropping down it makes it a much more competitive tournament, especially at the quarter-finals stage.

“We had Leinster last year so there is a lot of quality there and the standard has really gone up.

“It’s a good tournament to be a part of but we can be confident for the quarter-finals.

“I think we’ve got a better squad than the last two years and a lot more strength in depth.”

Varndell’s double against Viadana came in a ten-try rout that completed a perfect pool campaign for the black and golds.

Varndell said: “It was a bit of a strange game and didn’t really flow as much as we wanted it to.

“But we scored some good tries and it was nice to get some running in my legs.

“We did what we needed to do. We’ve qualified top of our group and are second seeds and now we can push on.”