Were you there?
It is exactly 19 years to the day since that magical game at the old Wembley when we lifted the FA Trophy after a hard-fought 1-0 win over Southport.ÂJason Eaton's 79th minute goal sent the 18,000 or so Robins' fans wild and Steve Cotteril's side held on to win. Skipper Chris Banks made the walk up the famous Wembley stairs to lift the club's first major trophy (as seen above).
That season the Robins finished runners up in the Conference before of course going one better the following year, earning a spot in the Football League for the first time in our history.
Reflecting on the occasion, Chairman Paul Baker commented, "I have really fond memories of that day. We took an unbelievable number of supporters, it was amazing to see. We actually struggled to hire enough coaches. to try and get everyone there!Â
"For me, it was an early induction into some successful times for the club. I took my young family to the game and sat in the old royal box. If you go to Wembley, you need to win because the celebrations there and later were fantastic. Having been and lost since, it's not the same.
" I think the most memorable thing from that has to be the number of people we took. It helped with the establishing of the club and raising awareness in the town."
Current assistant manager Russ Milton and goalkeeping coach Steve Book played that day. The full line-up read:
Book, Duff, Victory, Banks, Freeman, Knight, (Smith, 78), Howells, Bloomer, Eaton, Watkins, Walker (Milton, 78)