Hornchurch right-back Mickey Parcell felt like he was still dreaming and expecting his alarm to go off after being crowned FA Trophy champions.
Tom Owen-Evans opened the scoring for National League North side Hereford after 13 minutes at Wembley with a deflected effort but Charlie Ruff equalised with a quarter of an hour to go, after a long throw-in had been flicked on to the bar.
Chris Dickson nodded down for Liam Nash to put Hornchurch, a division below their opponents, ahead with four minutes to go before Ellis Brown nutmegged the goalkeeper on the counterattack to seal a famous 3-1 win for the Urchins.
“I’m still waiting for my phone alarm to go off and the dream to be over, but it won’t because we made it happen and looking back on the run we had through such a crazy year we thoroughly deserved it,” Parcell smiled.
“FA Trophy champions, something that will live with me for the rest of my life and an experience that will never be forgotten.
“I think we always knew, even after going 1-0 down that there was more to come from us.
“We’ve been in this position before. We said at half time, knowing the next goal would be so important, we had to start the second half well, which we did.
“The gaffer's changes were spot on, it took us up a gear and Ruffy (Charlie Ruff) in particular was different class.
“There’s not many players that can do kick-ups on a stage like that is there and once we got the equaliser I just knew it was going to be our day.
“This group has something that I have never experienced before, hunger, passion, togetherness, never say die attitude and most importantly bundles of quality.”
The former Enfield Town full-back smiled the whole way through the match and urged the fans on at every moment he could.
“I think for me personally I knew I had to enjoy the experience of playing at Wembley because it’s certainly something that doesn’t come around often for a non-league side," he added.
“In terms of urging the fans on and smiling throughout the game it's something I would do on any other Saturday game, it’s the way I play.
“Making a big tackle inside the first 10 minutes in front of the away end and receiving a load of stick I can only describe as being the same feeling as scoring a goal for a striker.
“I’m so glad that my family and friends were there to witness it all happen, along with the Hornchurch fans because it was as much of a dream as it was for us.”
And Parcell has already stated they want to go for promotion to National League South next season.
“It’s time now to rest and enjoy time away from football before coming back and hopefully getting promotion next season,” he said.
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