Why Littlehampton Town's FA Vase final defeat DID matter - but is not the full story

Such an outlook would suggest that after battling through to the final from round one, the last hurdle was just a day out, a jolly, and no-one really minded whether they won or lost. And that could not be further from the truth. The result did matter. They wanted to win and when they didn’t, it hurt.

The Vase would have been their third trophy of the season and would have been coming back to Sussex for the first time in its history.

Joint bosses Mitch Hand and George Gaskin had spoken in the lead-up to Wembley about how much they wanted to win it, numerous players had too, committee members, fans – no-one was heading to north-west London on Sunday not really minding who won.

Competitive football doesn’t work like that. If there are three league points up for grabs, or a place in the next round of a cup, or a whole trophy resting on one game, you want to win it, whether you’re Liverpool, Littlehampton Town or the local school’s under-nines.

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But – and it is a big but – the fact the Golds were first up the steps to the royal box to collect their runners-up medals, and not second up to claim winners’ medals and the silver pot itself, should nor detract from what they have achieved: what they have achieved in reaching the home of football and what they achieved over the course of the whole season.

Because as Hand was quick to point out after the match had finished, everyone in a gold-coloured shirt could be mightily proud of the journey they have been on in the 2021-22 season.

A year ago not too many people outside of their own corner of West Sussex were taking any notice of the team from The Sportsfield.

In truth not even their promotion from division one to the premier division of the Southern Combination League caused too much of a stir, coming as it did in an FA-ordered shake-up of steps four to six of the non-league pyramid based on teams’ results over two unfinished seasons. But when the new campaign got going, the Golds started winning – and scoring for fun.

One or two FA Cup ties made the wider football community sit up and take notice, league games were won with Joe Benn scoring several goals per game, then the Vase run started to take on a life of its own.

Come January, and Littlehampton escaped crashing out of the Vase thanks to Athletic Newham playing an ineligible player in beating them 5-0 in the fourth round, and we had a story on our hands.

It ran and ran and Brockenhurst, North Shields and Loughborough Students were swept aside on three memorable afternoons in front of thousands at The Sportsfield – and suddenly the Wembley Arch loomed into view for little old Littlehampton.

And when their day in the sun came, defeated though they may have been, the club’s players, staff, volunteers and supporters did themselves – and their town – proud. So proud.

Before the game there was gold and black everywhere – on the coaches and trains, up Olympic Way, outside Wembley, then in their allocated section of the national stadium. What a noise those fans made, and what a spectacle they created.

The supporters have grown in number as the season has gone on and they knew what this day meant. It was quite possibly the only time in their lives they would get to see Littlehampton Town at Wembley and they were not going to let it pass without savouring every second.

Inevitably as the game slipped away from the Golds, the singing and chanting died down. But there was no hasty retreat o the exits to beat the rush.

They all stayed to the bitter end to salute their heroes after the final whistle and as the players and management team went to them, it was a case of the mutual appreciation society as fans applauded players and players returned the compliment.

In fact the way everyone representing the club conducted themselves all day was impressive. Among the green shirts of Newport Pagnell celebrating in front of their fans at the end were a number of Golds men quick to go and congratulate them.

As for Hand, when questioned about a conversation he’d had with the Pagnell manager late in the game, he revealed that, with the result beyond doubt, he’d been telling him not to worry about handshakes on the final whistle but to go and make the most of the moment.

And what of the defeated Littlehampton players? They may have lost 3-0 but they gave it their all. They’d saved their best performances for the biggest games in the past three rounds, but could not find one more big display here.

No-one will be more disappointed about that than the players themselves but they can console themselves massively with the knowledge they were beaten by a better team, by a worldie of a first goal and perhaps by a bit of bad luck.

Had Joe Benn’s shot not hit the post and had instead gone in to make it 2-1 before Newport Pagnell wrapped it up, well, who knows? Had George Gaskin’s game not ended early in that sickening clash of heads, maybe he’d have popped up with the sort of big-game goal he loves,

It was not to be but even at 3-0 down the men in gold shirts kept running, chasing, trying.

As Liam Humphreys said afterwards, wouldn’t it have been great if they could just have nabbed a goal at the death? They couldn’t. 3-0 it stayed but there need to be no inquests about defeat at Wembley, though the bosses will want to look at where it went wrong and establish what they can learn from it.

So while the result did matter – and you can only imagine the scenes that would have ensued, on the day and since, had that trophy had gold ribbons tied to it – those players, and everyone else at the club, should be in no doubt that, even as Vase runners-up, they’ve given their fans and the town of Littlehampton memories.

They’re golden memories, and they’ll last a lifetime.

Footnote: We (the Littlehampton Gazette and sussexworld.co.uk) have been proud and privileged to cover the Golds' historic season and run to Wembley. It has caused a lot of extra work but it has been a pleasure. I could not have done it without the help of many: my company colleagues Mark Dunford, Sam Morton, Katherine Hollisey and Sam Woodman, who have helped with reports, pages in the papers and at Wembley itself; Trevor Knell, Max Mitchell (@marigoals_) and John Clarke, who have written some great reports and opinion pieces); nor without Martin Denyer, Chris Hatton and Stephen Goodger, whose pictures have brought the Vase run to life in print and online; nor without many at the club - chiefly Mitch Hand, who will be looking forward to a few weeks without me firing questions at him, but also George Gaskin, Rob McAlees, Jordan Clark, James Askew and James Roberts, who along with everyone at The Sportsfield have handled the attention, the demands and the pressure superbly. Thank you all!

- Steve Bone (who, while LTFC enjoy a holiday in Spain, is off to a dark room for a long lie down...)