A WELSH CLUB REACHES WEMBLEY AFTER 60 YEARS

After their extra-time triumph at Dagenham which put them in the FA Trophy Final, City had very little time to indulge in celebration or anticipation at becoming the first Welsh club to reach Wembley since 1927. As well as reaching the final of English non-League football’s premier cup competition, they’d also had a great run in the FA Cup, reaching the 2nd Round proper where they faced Blackpool, taking the full-timers to a replay which City narrowly lost. City were in their second season in the Alliance Premier League – the top flight of English non-League football – but were struggling to avoid the drop back down to the Northern Premier League. Unfortunately for City, their successful cup runs had left them with a huge backlog of league fixtures. In the two weeks between the FA Trophy semi-final and the final itself, City were forced to play no less than TEN league games, five of which were lost, thereby condemning them to the drop. It was a fact that Alliance Premier League clubs were against rearranging the league fixtures postponed due to cup commitments while City were playing well, and this was the reason which manager Dave Elliott insisted was responsible for City arriving at Wembley’s Twin Towers having been relegated.

Whatever sense of disappointment City fans had felt was made up for by the sense of occasion of playing at Wembley against Northwich Victoria. Two trains packed full of City supporters were specially laid on for the trip down to London, and in total around 7000 fans travelled by whatever means they could. A crowd of over 14500 turned out at Wembley to see the two teams presented before the match to former England manager Ron Greenwood CBE. An action-packed game finished 1-1 after extra-time, with Paul Whelan being the first, and only, City player ever to score at Wembley. The replay was held at the Victoria Ground, Stoke, and due to its close proximity to Northwich, City officials and supporters felt it gave their opponents an unfair advantage. Although City fans still turned out in force for the replay, they were greatly outnumbered by the Northwich Victoria fans, who only had to make a short journey down the road to cheer their team on. Northwich won the replay 2-1, with City’s only goal coming from stalwart Phil Lunn. It was the last season that City were to play in the English non-League top flight, although they came close to returning there in 1987 when they finished as Multipart Northern Premier League runners up.