SISTER ACT HAS GIVEN SPENCE A TRUE TASTE
THERE aren’t many players who can take Wembley advice from an FA Cup winner and England international, but Hornchurch’s Lewwis Spence has got just that from sister Drew. The Urchins skipper has seen Chelsea midfielder Drew win under the famous arch but never expected to get there himself. Now aged 33, the former Crystal Palace and Wycome Wanderers man is determined to enjoy every second of it – and he’s had some good family insider tips.
“I was out with her a few weeks ago and we were having a laugh and a joke,” Spence told The NLP. “She said, ‘Look, make sure you’re fit to give a good account of yourself. The pitch may not be bigger but it seems bigger. That could be the occasion so don’t get drawn into that’. “And she said, ‘Ultimately you want to be a winner. Don’t come off the field with any regrets’. For me, at my stage of my career, it would be very unlikely I get another chance to play at Wembley.
“So I need to make the most of it. A lot of the boys will be thinking the same thing. Playing Non-League you don’t expect to play at Wembley come the end of the season. You might be fighting for honours and promotions, but the majority of Non-League players wouldn’t envision playing at Wembley.”
Spence says Hornchurch can’t wait to play in front of their fans with their
3,000 allocation already sold out.
“It’s times like this you think about all the volunteers who have been at the club for so long deserve days like this,”
Spence said. “You always appreciate what they do but you can take it for granted at times. “I’ve had conversations with them and they appreciate what we’ve done for the club and what we’ve achieved. But we appreciate everything they’ve done for us to make the club what it is. They deserve the day out as much as we do. “We’ve not had fans in for a long time. So that’s a blessing. People would have watched the Vase and Trophy finals on the bank holiday and seen that those clubs who had the success to get there last season weren’t able to have fans. So it’s another blessing that we have got that opportunity to have fans, friends and family with us.”
It’s been a steady buildup since they beat Notts County at the end of March but Spence says the anticipation is growing to play at one of the world’s most famous stadiums. “The other day I was watching a video of a friend, Ben Watson, score for Wigan in the FA Cup final a few years ago,” Spence said. “Then I watched Gary Alexander’s goal at Wembley for Millwall. He’s a close friend of mine too and I’m thinking, ‘There is an opportunity I could score at Wembley’. “Then I’ve been in the shower having goosebumps thinking about the crowd singing at Wembley. Or in the group chat with the boys, one of the boys has driven past Wembley, taken a picture and put it in the group and it sets it off. Every now and then, the emotion pops up. “You look back at the pictures from us winning at Notts County or Darlington and they are memories forever. Can we replicate that at one of the greatest stadiums in the world? It’s surreal.”