STEVE'S SUITED AND LIVING DREAM

STEVE GARDENER thought he was just going for a pint with his dad and brother when he attended a meeting at the local ice rink to discuss restarting Romford Football Club.

- MATT BADCOCK

Thirty-two years on and the Boro chairman will hop on the train just like he does every year to watch NonLeague Finals Day.

This time, however, he’ll be wearing a suit and a proud smile as wide as the Wembley arch.

“I’m just going through a different entrance this year,” Gardener laughs. “When you walk up Wembley Way and see the guys selling half-and-half scarves, flags and you see the supporters of course, when you’re involved in it, you do think, ‘What must it be like to go to Wembley to support your own club?’.

“For Non-League clubs, certainly at our level, the Vase is the only opportunity. You’re never going to make it to an FA Cup final and even when we were in Step 4, you’re not likely to make the Trophy final. It’s the Vase that gives you that opportunity.

“There are so many teams that go into it that to make it into the last two, you need a bit of luck along the way.”

Belief they could make the final only really came when they beat North Greenford United – who had knocked out their fellow Essex Senior League high-flyers Tilbury – in the quarter-finals.

Victory at Lincoln United last month sent the club into dreamland and it’s been busy ever since with a play-off campaign this weekend around all the Wembley organising.