Well, for me, the feeling from Saturday still hasn’t really settled in, not completely. I mean, beating a Premier League team when you’re where we are? It’s a thing that keeps feeling impossible even after you’ve done it. Two days have gone by now.
Honestly, did I think we’d win and go through? Probably not, no. There’s always that little bit of hope, of course, because the FA Cup is famous for mad moments. But the lads were absolutely outstanding and I think we deserved it, really. The scenes after the final whistle were something else—the fans on the pitch, everything. It shows how much it means.
My brother Wayne was here doing the broadcast and I saw him get emotional after. He’s always been a softie like that, gets choked up at films even. Having him here, and my wife and kids too, made it more special. My little lad was actually on the pitch after our second goal, which I didn’t even know until I got home and watched it back. Just a surreal day, all of it.
Then you wake up Sunday and the kids are wanting taking to football. Back to normal life straight away. You wonder for a second if it all really happened. But then you see the videos and you remember.
We’re the only non-league team left now. Fingers crossed for another big side in the next round, that’s what you want. But there’s no time to rest. We’ve got an FA Trophy game Tuesday, and because of weather and other sad things, we’ve got eight league matches to fit in before that fourth-round tie even comes. The schedule is Saturday-Tuesday basically until the season ends.
For a lot of the boys, this isn’t their only job. Like Sam, our defender, he’s a PE teacher. He was marking Premier League players Saturday and then back teaching kids on Monday morning. He told his pupils last week he’d be happy conceding less than ten! They’ll probably just talk about his yellow card, kids are funny like that. But it’s a good lesson for them, I suppose. That you can be the underdog and still do something impossible.
I only took over here in July, after Robbie. To be part of a story like this is what football is about, really. We’ll try to enjoy it as long as we can, but we’re straight back to work now. The next game is always the one that matters.
The entire town feels different now, like the air itself is lighter. I was getting petrol this morning and a man I’ve never met just nodded at me and said “thank you.” That’s when you know it’s bigger than just a game. It’s like we gave people a piece of something happy they can carry around with them.
From a practical view, my phone hasn’t stopped buzzing with messages from people I played with years ago. That’s been almost as nice as the win itself. But you also realize the spotlight is a strange thing—suddenly everyone has an opinion on your team selection from six months ago. I just try to laugh it off and remember the feeling in our dressing room after.
It makes you think about the future, but in a good way. A run like this can change the path of a club, not just with prize money but by showing young local lads what’s possible. They might dream a bit bigger now. Honestly, that legacy stuff is for later though. Right now my focus is on the team bus and whether it’ll start in the cold for the trip to Woking tomorrow.
