West Hill Football Club failed to impress on their outing to Wembley but team boss Dean Marchant was thrilled with the experience.

Marchant’s team, who were only formed in the summer, were eliminated from the FA Umbro 5-a-side competition in the qualifiers but were one of eight teams from 1,700 to be drawn to take part in the Lucky 8 finals at Wembley alongside the main event.

The South London Alliance League side didn’t get very far in the tournament and Marchant, from Dartford, admitted it was a bitter sweet afternoon.

Marchant said: “I kept telling the players to make sure they didn’t give the ball away but within five seconds of the first game I fell over, gave them the ball and they scored. We were 3-0 down after five minutes and ended up losing 5-3.”

West Hill drew their next game 1-1 and won 1-0 in the final game, but it wasn’t enough for them to progress.

“It was a great day but for me it was just about the football – and we were rubbish,” admitted Marchant.

“I didn’t appreciate it until we finished and I thought ‘look where I’ve just played football.’"