A huge congratulations to Thatcham Town – the FA Vase winners

It was a strange feeling tuning in to BT Sports via the iPhone app and a borrowed password, all to watch Thatcham Town in the FA Vase but there I was on Sunday afternoon in the sunshine as Shane Cooper-Clark fired what turned out to be the winning goal at Wembley.

The enormity of what the West Berkshire side has achieved is simply this: No Berkshire side since the competition began in 1974 has reached the final, let alone won it.

To see a club with a number of faces familiar achieve something quite so special in the National Stadium is simply something no club from around here has done before – Didcot being the closest and the fact it’s a competition usually dominated by the Northern clubs makes it even more impressive.

They’ve been rivals to our clubs this season, they’ve been on a terrific run as well and while their last two defeats saw Binfield and Bracknell Town lift trophies I am sure no one will begrudge them this triumph.

To see Cooper-Clark, Keith Pennicott-Bowen, Harrison Bayley, Jemel Johnson (who summed it all up so well in the tweet below) and briefly the cup tied Liam Ferdinand beaming on the tele at the end was something else.

The joys of being a non league footballer – Wembley cup final winner Sunday afternoon, Private Banker again Monday morning! Few hours sleep, a sore head but still smiling 🙂 People will regret asking me how my weekend was today 😂 pic.twitter.com/r5erBjPTfg

— Jemel Johnson (@jemel335) May 21, 2018

So well done to Thatcham, you’ve done the Hellenic League, the County of Berkshire and most importantly yourselves proud.