'It's something thousands have dreamt of' - Sunderland legend and diehards react to Black Cats' Wembley win

Sunderland won at Wembley for the first time in almost 50 years after Lynden Gooch fired his side to a 1-0 win against Tranmere Rovers in the Papa John’s Trophy.

1973 FA Cup winner Micky Horswill said the win would help set Sunderland up for promotion.

“It’s fantastic, not just because they have won the cup, but for the rest of the season,” he said.

"Obviously promotion is the main thing and if they had lost there then the confidence might have gone down a little bit.

"It feels completely different. They have been in this league for a couple of seasons now and they have got used to it.

"They have brought a few players in – Sanderson made a massive difference. I think they have definitely got hope this year.

"Today gives them that little bit extra confidence.”

He added: "I'm really pleased for them, they played OK, they didn’t play great but they got the job done in the end and that’s the main thing.”

On his own Wembley experience Micky continued: "We’ve had our day and our day was fantastic.

"I felt for the players a little bit because the crowd wasn’t there. It was a little bit of an anticlimax for them maybe not having the lap of honour and things like that, especially getting beat there as many times as we have since 1973.

“It would have been nice especially for the people who have waited so long for a win down at Wembley and the first time we have done it, there is nobody there.

"But hopefully if they get a promotion they will get there for the last game of the season maybe.

"Hopefully everything is starting to change for them that little bit for the better.”

Paul Dobson, editor of SAFC Fanzine - A Love Supreme, said the most important thing was that the win kept the Black Cat’s ‘unbeaten run going.’

"The new owner was there today and he will be looking at that and thinking it's the first little step,” he said.

"It's not the FA Cup, it's where we are now. It's what we are in with a chance of winning and we have won it.

"He [Kyril Louis-Dreyfus] can look at that as the first foundation stone in his projects.

"He couldn't have wanted a better start, he's got to win another 14 games in the league and then if they go to plan the second step will have been achieved.

"People say it's not the biggest trophy in the world and it isn't, but if any club in the world was in a final of any cup competition they would want to win it and we wanted to win that one."

Michael Ganley, owner of the Fans Museum, said Louis-Dreyfus has brought a new element of ‘confidence and stability.’

“A win at Wembley is something that many thousands of Sunderland fans have dreamt of,” he said.

"It’s heartbreaking that the fans weren’t there today.

"It was (bad luck) that we were going to miss it and we were going to win it, but that’s the sacrifice that we are happy to pay and we can look forward to the future of our club growing bigger and bigger."

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