It is 10 years ago today - May 17th 1998 - that Cheltenham Town stepped onto the Wembley turf to contest the FA Umbro Trophy final.

The town had never seen anything like it. Football had been played in Cheltenham for more than 100 years with the Robins carrying the town's name around the non-league circuit with moderate success but never anything to match the scale of this occasion.

Local boy made good Steve Cotterill had led the team to promotion back to the Conference as it was then after five years in the Southern League and a remarkable first season at the national level resulted in a runners-up spot to champions Halifax Town and an FA Cup third round appearance against Reading.

But two weeks after the League season had finished came the culmination of an FA Trophy run that had begun with a 1-1 draw at Enfield in the first round. Victories followed over Rushden & Diamonds, Ashton United, Hayes and in the semi-finals Dover Athletic.

Around 17,000 fans made the pilgramage to the old Wembley Stadium to see the Robins take on Conference rivals Southport in the final.

It was a closely fought, tension packed game that could have gone either way and a magnificent save by Cheltenham goalkeeper Steve Book from Southport's Brian Ross kept the scores level going into the latter stages.

Jimmy Smith, a maverick striker with over 100 goals to his name, and stylish midfielder Russell Milton emerged from the substitutes' bench with 13 minutes to go.

Two minutes later Smith was fouled out by the right-hand touchline as Cheltenham attacked and Milton delivered one of his trademark free-kicks with radar precision. Southport goalkeeper Billy Stewart started to come for it then hesitated as the ball was flicked on and there, at the far post, was a 28-year old fitness instructor from Bristol called Jason Eaton.

The popular striker signed from Gloucester City in 1992 had also passed the 100 goal mark in his time with the Robins but this was to be the most important of the lot. He nodded the ball into the net from eight yards and ran to the Cheltenham supporters to celebrate. The defence held firm for the last 10 minutes and there followed the biggest party in Cheltenham since VE Day.

The team coach drove around the inner ring that night with the trophy in the front window and thousands of people spilled out of the pubs on a balmy evening to salute the team. The following day an open top bus parade ended with a civic reception at the town hall and jubilant scenes as the trophy was held aloft from the roof.

Since that afternoon Cheltenham Town have enjoyed many more days in the sun - promotion to the Football League, exciting cup runs and two play-off finals at the Millennium Stadium. But there was something special about this one because it was all new. Cheltenham Town had finally arrived and begun to fill the potential we all knew was there.

The Cheltenham team that day contained some names that went on to become legends of the club over the next few years. The line-up was: Steve Book, Michael Duff, Jamie Victory, Chris Banks (captain), Mark Freeman, Keith Knight (Jimmy Smith 77), Clive Walker (Russell Milton 77), Jason Eaton, Dale Watkins, Bob Bloomer. Other sub: Darren Wright. The attendance was 26,837.