Preview: Whitchurch Alport aces aiming to keep their Wembley dream
With 20 minutes remaining in Whitchurch Alport’s last 16 FA Vase tie they had 10 men and were 3-1 down.
They needed a miracle – and got one as local boy Alex Hughes completed his hat-trick to bring Alport back from the dead against Coventry Sphinx before he lashed home the winner in the penalty shootout set up tomorrow’s historic last four tie with Newport Pagnell.
Luke Goddard’s side were praised for their desire and character to keep their Vase journey alive, but could there have been some divine intervention from above?
Alport’s player/coach Kevin Street, who has turned out for Crewe and Shrewsbury Town, is a high school teacher in RE who studied a degree in divinity during his playing days at Gresty Road.
And alongside all of the club’s preparation on the training pitch ahead of tomorrow’s crunch clash, manager Goddard is hoping the experienced Street can say a few words to ‘get the Lord on their side’ ahead of the game.
He said: “It is going to be exciting. When we were five games away from Wembley I said ‘you never know’, but now it’s two it is unbelievable.
“We were given a lifeline in the last round, we were dead and buried at half-time, and we had nothing to lose and came back. We took that lifeline.
“Now in this one, hopefully we have a bit of Lady Luck on our side, and Kevin Street can say a prayer and get the Lord on our side for the game, and you never know, we could keep this going.”
Alport’s journey to the quarter-final stage hasn’t been easy, with tough opposition and come through two penalty shootouts.
For Goddard, though, the story stretches back long before the preliminary round of this year’s competition.
When he took over in 2016, the club were languishing in the North West Counties League, and stayed up after relegation was scrapped.
Since then, and with the help of other key club personnel, Alport have gone from strength to strength.
They earned promotion to the North West Counties top flight and beat Shrewsbury Town in the 2019 Shropshire Senior Cup final.
Now Goddard wants to keep the journey going.
“It has been a six-year vision for me, from where we were to now, playing in front of 1,300 fans in the FA Vase. It is crazy to think we have come this far,” said Goddard, who had a brief stint as interim chairman back in 2020 when he stepped back from coaching.
“It is the stuff of dreams really, we knew it was possible and could make it happen, but it has taken a lot of hard work. As a town, Whitchurch had potential. It had one club, it is unique, and so many people have brought into it and believed in it.
“Even if we are on the wrong end of the result I hope we have proved what we have here and the potential for the future.”
If they are going to progress to the last four, they are going to have to do it without flying winger Ivan Urvantev who misses out with suspension.
And top marksman Hughes, who bagged a hat-trick in the last round, is facing a race to be fit but Goddard hopes he can strap himself out and produce more cup magic.
He added: “We’re waiting to see on Alex, but hopefully we can wrap him up and get him out there, he is due a performance so hopefully he is saving himself for Saturday.”
