Skysports.com's Richard Bailey looks forward to the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play at Wembley.
Skysports.com's Richard Bailey looks forward to the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play at Wembley in the FA Vase final.
As a reporter working for
skysports.com I am used to writing about the world of professional football, covering games that are played in some of the world's best stadiums.
But on Sunday I will have the chance to walk out at perhaps the greatest stadium of them all - Wembley - as part of the Glossop North End squad that has reached the final of the FA Vase to take on Whitley Bay.
Glossop are a club steeped in history. Set up by Sir Samuel Hill-Wood before he moved on to bigger things at Arsenal, the club have always been best known for being the smallest town in England to boast a Football League club.
During those heady days the club also managed to reach the quarter-finals of the FA Cup in 1908-09 when they lost 1-0 to Bristol City.
Since then the club have slowly slipped down the non-league ladder, failing to live up to the standards set at the beginning of the century - until now.
This season has seen our Surrey Street home once more play host to thousands of supporters that have joined us on our run to the FA Vase final.
Once-in-a-lifetime chance
It has taken me and my team-mates 10 games - a run that began in September - to get the once-in-a-lifetime chance to run out at Wembley Stadium. The dream that seemed a distant dot on the horizon is edging closer to reality as the final beckons on Sunday.
The semi-final, in particular, was an especially gruelling affair after two hard-fought games against Chalfont St Peter ended in an aggregate score of 5-5. The match would be decided by penalties.
As I walked up to take my spot-kick I knew that if I scored we would be going to Wembley after our 17-year-old goalkeeper Ash Gotham had pulled off a stunning save in sudden death.
The walk from the halfway line seemed to take an eternity and as I bounced the ball I tried to remain calm. My legs were heavy and my only worry was that I wouldn't be able to run up to strike the ball after I had gone down with agonising cramp just minutes earlier.
However I managed to overcome my fears and slot the ball home. The preparations for May 10th could well and truly begin.
With the Wembley suits taken care of, the Cup Final song already chosen and the hotel booked the club decided to use their Arsenal links to take care of a training ground to use before the final.
The Gunners did their bit and offered us their training base but unfortunately our schedules clashed. Not to be perturbed, our manager Steve Young managed to book Bisham Abbey for Saturday morning.
So not only will we be strutting our stuff on the hallowed turf on the Sunday, we will be limbering up for the big day by training at the base of the England national team on the Saturday morning.
Mindblowing
After that we are set to head off to Wembley to watch the FA Trophy final between Stevenage and York when I think it will really hit home that we will be playing at the home of football.
Hundreds of talented professional players, let alone us non-leaguers, never get the opportunity to grace Wembley so to be playing there this weekend is fairly mindblowing.
I must admit when I saw the ultra-fit Rio Ferdinand go down with cramp in the FA Cup semi-final against Everton I was slightly daunted about what lay in store for us on the famous energy-sapping pitch.
But I have been buoyed by the fact that the famous stadium will at least look close to a quarter full with the Hillmen faithful already snapping up 4,000 tickets while our opponents Whitley Bay have pulled together to sell an astonishing 12,000.
In writing this I suppose the build-up has begun and I confess that the nerves are beginning to jangle for the first time - although they are nothing compared to the semi-final shoot-out - but one thing's for sure, we will all be out to enjoy the moment.
