Whitstable fans celebrate 'magical' FA Vase win at Wembley
Fans of Whitstable Town FC have said they could not be prouder after their team lifted the FA Vase for the first time in their history.The Kent side beat AFC Whyteleafe 2-1 at Wembley Stadium in extra time on Sunday in front of thousands of supporters.Fan Owen Spinola said: "Would you ever expect a small town like us to come to Wembley and to do what we did? It was absolutely magical."Fellow supporter Nick Cooper added: "I have never felt more proud to be a Whitstable person."
"We might be a small town, but we've got the grit to come back and smash them," said Mr Cooper. "We've done it, a trophy at Wembley. Who gets to say they saw their home town at Wembley win a cup?"Mr Cooper said he and the fan base felt "untouchable".
AFC Whyteleafe took the lead in the first half but Whitstable brought themselves level with a finish from outside the box in the 52nd minute and snatched the lead in extra time.Helen Waters, whose brother-in-law Kelly is joint-manager of the Surrey side, said the players and staff of AFC Whyteleafe had done "themselves so proud"."I'm sure they [the players] are just so proud of that achievement of playing at Wembley, it really is something else," she said.
Jane Longhurst, whose son is a coach for Whitstable Town said lifting the trophy was "the most amazing end to an incredible journey".She added: "It's put Whitstable on the map as a town, but also as a team."
Whitstable resident Jessica Frost said the club had brought the community together."It's from our town, its not like going to a Premiership game where you've kind of come in from somewhere else, it's actually our town," she said.Gavin Spencer, who dressed head-to-toe in Whitstable's red, said: "I think the town will be absolutely on a buzz for I do not know how long after this."The buzz that has been created pre-this has been amazing…post-this, I cannot even begin to imagine what tonight will be like if I'm being honest."
Georgie Weatherall watched the game with her family.She said: "It is absolutely amazing for Whitstable. "The players have done amazingly well, but obviously the support as well, they've been with them all the way, it's incredible, no one would ever have thought."Fan Susan Cox added: "You could see the passion and the dream come true for them [the players]...they knew that their dream had come true, you saw that."
Former England player Stuart Pearce said the support for the two teams was "incredible".He told the BBC: "It just goes to show how a town embraces a day at Wembley."The average crowd at each of these clubs might be in the hundreds, maybe early thousands, but all of a sudden you get a big day out at Wembley and the whole town wants to be part of it."
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