Hucknall Town's Trophy pride and pain

A terrific turnout of almost 5,000 supporters, of all ages, made Hucknall Town's appearance in the FA Trophy final at Villa Park an unforgettable occasion.

Everywhere you looked were people draped in the club's colours of yellow and black.

Never before have so many Hucknallites gathered in one place, at one event, at one time in support of the town.

And the team did themselves proud too by holding hot favourites Grays Athletic – a full-time, professional club – to a 1-1 draw at the end of extra-time.

But the magical atmosphere and the heroism of the players was also tarnished by tragedy and anguish.

For popular player/manager Dean Barrick had to be stretchered off and taken to hospital with a triple fracture of his left leg after only 25 minutes.

And Town failed by an agonising whisker to bring home the Trophy when losing a heartstopping penalty-shootout by the narrowest of margins – 6-5 – after misses by Roy Hunter and Russell Cooke.

Tears were shed over the cruel defeat and the injury.

But this week Town officials consoled themselves in the knowledge that they had let nobody down and had put on an inspirational show.

"it was a great day for the club," said chairman Brian Holmes.

"Obviously we are disappointed that we didn't pull it off but we did ourselves proud after Dean had to go off.

"Some of the players were visibly shocked by the injury but they didn't let their heads drop.

"As for the supporters, where did they all come from? They were superb and I am absolutely delighted.

"After the last month, the committee are going for a lie-down for a week!

"But when we come back, we must build on the wonderful support we got.

"Let's hope we can attract a few of them to our home games next season."

The crowd at Villa Park was 8,116 – the second lowest in the history of FA Trophy finals.

But it was good, considering the game was shown live on Sky Sports TV and the average home attendances of the two clubs are little more than 500.

Town fans easily outnumbered those from Grays, who just failed to sell their allocation of 3,000 tickets.

Town's pre-match sales were 3,792 but it was estimated that more than 1,200 others paid on the day, helping to almost fill two tiers of the famous ground's Trinity Road stand.

"When we saw the massed ranks of yellow and black and heard the singing and cheering, it took my breath away," confessed Town president Glenn Lathall.

"It made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up – it was incredible.

"I still cannot get over the number of fans who were there and the noise they made.

"Even after Russell Cooke had missed the last penalty, immediately came the cry of Yellows!

"I was almost speechless. I have never seen support like that for Hucknall.

"I think we won new friends and maybe some of them will come and see us next season.

"I hope that people who went to the game were proud of the club. I certainly am.

"I think we won a lot of respect and admiration and that will stand us in good stead.

"We have all shed a little tear because we lost. But if Grays looked like a full-time, professional team, then so did we.

"The result didn't go for us but we were not disgraced. We came so close.

"We did ourselves and the town proud.

"The only thing that marred the day was Dean Barrick's injury.

"I feel so bad for him after what he has done for us this season. For it to happen in that particular match, I could cry for the guy. It took some of the gloss off the day."

Lathall and Holmes said Town won praise from both Sky Sports and Aston Villa for the way they conducted themselves on the day.

Holmes said Sky commented that it "had been a joy to work with such nice people", while Villa's renowned chairman, Doug Ellis, even invited them into his own private boardroom for after-match drinks.

Then it was back to Watnall Road for a spectacular party at the Talk Of the Town social club.

"Wow!" What a wonderful experience," declared Lathall.

"The atmosphere was such that you'd have thought we had won.

"All the players were introduced on to the stage, one by one. It was tremendous.

"The players were down in the sense that they had wanted to win but up because they had done themselves justice and competed against a professional side.

"They had also matched Grays for fitness, which is testimony to the leadership of Dean and Roy Hunter.

"Russell Cooke was upset about his penalty-miss but we said it could have happened to anyone and didn't mar the fact that he had had a good game."