Hornchurch manager Mark Stimson insisted the dream had come true after making it to Wembley to play in the FA Trophy final.

The Urchins will take on National League North side Hereford in England’s national stadium on Saturday, May 22 after beating Notts County 5-4 on penalties at Meadow Lane following a 3-3 draw.

The visitors fought back three times thanks to a brace from striker Liam Nash and a goal from midfielder Lewwis Spence to land themselves the biggest game in the club’s 98-year history.

“You’ve said it, the dream has come true! We told the boys to dream it, believe it, and then to deliver it. It's what we told them on Friday night,” Stimson said.

“We then spoke about it Saturday, saying let’s put in a performance that they’d be proud of and that our supporters would be proud of, and if they did that we couldn’t ask for anything more.

“We've done that and the icing on the cake was that we won the game. We took Notts County to penalties after being down three times in the game.

“The desire the boys showed was second to none and to go to a penalty shoot-out, score all of our five, and Joe Wright to pull off another fantastic save, we’re in dreamland. We’re going to Wembley.”

Hornchurch celebrated on the pitch and the whole way home on the bus before being greeted by Urchins supporters when they arrived back at Bridge Avenue.

Stimson, a four-time winner of the competition, added: “It's hard to put into words. On the pitch after the game we had players emotionally in tears for the right reasons, as they’ve made their dreams.

“I said to them after they’ve not just made their dreams, they’ve made so many other peoples dreams, their families and the supporters of this football club. We saw that when we arrived back at the ground. There was supporters waiting there to cheer the boys off the bus.

“It was a very special day and one that will be remembered for a hell of a while and a great day now to look forward to.”

The boss also wanted to re-iterate the character shown throughout the competition by his squad, who saw their Isthmian League season suspended in November due to the pandemic.

“I think the first tie, Bowers away, I think we went down in that one, and come back to win that comfortably. We scored a last-minute winner at Tonbridge Angels and as we’ve further progressed there has been times where we have been behind but the lads don’t give in," he said.

“The bench on Saturday was so strong and it was the first time I've had the full squad to pick from, so I knew we could make a big difference from the bench.

"The boys that come off had done their shift and the boys that came on helped, especially the last goal with Chris (Dickson) crossing it in for Charlie Ruff to head it across and then Nash to tap it in.”