Source: Northern_Echo
Wembley joy for Quakers
Nearly 10,000 Darlington supporters were at Wembley on Saturday to witness the club's triumph in the FA Trophy final. Chief Sports Writer Scott Wilson sampled the atmosphere with them.[LNB] THEY came, they saw, they conquered but they were forced to bite their fingernails to the quick along the way.[LNB] Click here to view a gallery of pictures from the day[LNB] Nearly 10,000 Darlingtonians descended on Wembley at the weekend, and none will forget the moment when Chris Senior's extra-time goal secured the club's first major knockout trophy.[LNB] After two spells in administration, relegation from the Football League and a mixed first season in the Blue Square Bet Premier, Quakers had returned to the footballing big time.[LNB] Little wonder some supporters had been willing to travel from the opposite side of the world to see history in the making.[LNB] I flew in from Texas a week ago, said Chris Willsden, 60, whose semi-retirement has taken him from Darlington to Bandera County, in the US.[LNB] [LNB] I've been supporting the club for 53 years and my first game was in the 1957-58 season when we beat Chelsea 4-1.[LNB] After that, I was hooked. I keep up to date with everything via the internet reading articles and listening to the matches on Radio Tees but when we got to Wembley, I knew I had to come home.[LNB] I arrived in time for the final league game against Rushden and Diamonds, spent last week meeting up with family and friends, and then came down to Wembley with some of the lads from years back. It's been one hell of a weekend.[LNB] Bandera County is known as the Cowboy capital of the world, so while Darlington's players were not exactly quick on the draw at the weekend, waiting until the 120th minute to score the winner, it was maybe just as well that a shoot-out was avoided.[LNB] Like Chris, other supporters who find it hard to attend The Northern Echo Arena regularly did everything in their power to make it to the game.[LNB] Tom Routledge, 26, had to rearrange his shifts as an RAF aircraft engineer in Lincoln in order to travel to Wembley with friends Pete Jasper and Claire Wilson.[LNB] I'm from Sunderland originally, said Tom. But I started watching Darlington when Marco Gabbiadini joined the club and I got hooked.[LNB] [LNB] I try to make it to ten-or-so games a season, but I obviously wasn't going to miss out on this one. It's been a tough few years being a Darlo fan, but days like this make up for it.[LNB] As well as being a day for reunions, it was also an afternoon for fancy dress. There was black-and-white headgear in a variety of forms, from mohicans to mullets, perms to panamas.[LNB] Brothers Alex and Will Watson came as convicts, resplendent in black-and-white stripes, while at the other end of the piety spectrum, Harry Ford was hoping divine intervention would be inspired by his appearance as a nun.[LNB] Frank Clark stole the show, donning the full costume of a 19th Century Quaker.[LNB] It was a nervy afternoon,[LNB] said Frank. In many ways, it was much like the last two times we've been to Wembley the only difference this time was that we scored.[LNB] When the goal went in, I was seriously worried that I wouldn't get my hat back. I threw it so far up in the air that it went about three rows forward.[LNB] Having sat through two hours of nerve-jangling football, the relief that accompanied Senior's headed winner was palpable.[LNB] I just hugged my dad and started crying, said 11-yearold James Hughes, sitting with his father, North-East MEP Stephen, and his mother, Darlington councillor Cyndi.[LNB] He was hardly alone. By the time captain Ian Miller hoisted the FA Trophy above his head, there was barely a dry eye in the house.[LNB]
