LOWESTOFT Town winger Jamie Godbold wishes the travelling army of Trawler Boys' fans could have all walked up the steps to Wembley's Royal Box with him yesterday.

Stuart Watson

LOWESTOFT Town winger Jamie Godbold wishes the travelling army of Trawler Boys' fans could have all walked up the steps to Wembley's Royal Box with him yesterday.

The 28-year-old said: “The fans were magnificent. I just wish we could have done it for them. They turned out in force for us and to be honest probably played better than us at times.

“It's a shame we couldn't get them a medal as well. I just hope they had a good day and enjoyed watching us.”

The former Stoke City player added: “How do I feel? The word devastated comes to mind but I can't really put into words how I'm feeling right now.

“I thought we contained them really well and the longer the game went on I thought they were pushing up and leaving gaps for us. But we never took advantage.

“But when Neal (Plaskett) went off we had to change things and they sent a couple of whippets on and hurt us.

“When the boy Ritchie Allen came on we knew he was going to be a threat and that proved to be the case.

“When we put in a couple of blocks on the line I felt like it was going to be our day. I looked at the clock on 60 minutes and was thinking how much longer there was to go, but the next minute I looked up and it was 80 minutes and I thought 'Brilliant'. I couldn't believe how quickly those 20 minutes had gone.

“Credit to them though, they kept playing to the end and got the goals when it mattered.”

Kirkham & Wesham captain Dougie Shaw was full of sympathy for Lowestoft after the Lancashire side snatched the FA Vase final deep into stoppage time.

The defender said: “It must have hurt even more for them the way we scored twice in the final five minutes. But as the legs went I think ours were the better and we were fitter than them.

“At half time we just said to each other 'keep playing football and don't try and force any issues when we don't have to.'

“While it was only one goal we always knew we were still in it. I thought we played really well and kept the ball really well.

“They had their chances but we made our chances count. Matt (Walwyn) has been doing exactly the same thing in every round so none of us were surprised at what he has done.

“At the final whistle I was thinking 'have we done this?' I really had to remind myself that we had actually won.”

He added: “I never thought this could happen. Back in the first round it's fairytale stuff.

“This club has got a great future now, there's lots of exciting developments and like it says on the side of our shirts, we want to be in the Football League by 2022.”