'The town is starting to believe - you can feel something special is coming': How Weston Super Mare prepared to pull off an FA Cup miracle, with help from a 97-year-old RAF pilot, Sheffield United and a night out in Liverpool dressed as the Minions

Music captures the mood but not on this occasion. On a glorious West Country afternoon, the Johnny Hates Jazz classic Shattered Dreams is blasting out from the sound system but, in this venue, dreams are soaring.

We are in Weston-super-Mare, who enter the FA Cup third round as the lowest ranked team. They are currently second in the National League South, three divisions below today’s League Two opponents Grimsby Town, and what a joy it is to be at the kind of club who symbolise everything positive football represents.

This seaside town was once a stopping point in the career of Aston Villa and England striker Ollie Watkins and they remember him fondly at the Optima Stadium but the future – and the chance to break new ground – is what matters to this club with 139 years of proud history.

The famous old pot, despite what many will tell you, continues to matter and you only have to listen to the testimonies during an afternoon when Farnborough Town comes to visit to see what it means to a community that has been gripped by Cup fever.

From the 97-year-old superfan, who has a stand named in his honour, to the kitman, who juggles his role alongside being the club barman and media manager, to the stadium announcer, an insurance broker by day and amateur dramatist by weekend, this is what it’s all about.

First, though, we must start with Scott Rogers, Weston’s young manager, who has masterminded a six-game run, that began on September 13 with a tie against neighbouring Taunton that was settled after a replay and has featured games against Poole, Needham Market, Aldershot and Chelmsford.

Scott Rogers is Weston-super-Mare's young manager - a bundle of energy who also runs a tiling business and his daughter's Under 10s team

Daily Mail Sport visited Weston, who enter the FA Cup third round as the lowest ranked team

They are second in the National League South, three divisions below opponents Grimsby Town, and what a joy it is to be at a club who symbolise everything positive football represents

Rogers is a bundle of energy and it’s no surprise to learn that aside from running a tiling business in Exeter and shaping Weston’s season, he also manages his middle daughter Eva’s Under 10s team – Twyford Spartans, you won’t be surprised to hear, are flourishing.

He has given his life to football, starting out as an academy player at Bristol City in the 1990s, before leaving to join Tiverton Town, for whom he scored a last-minute goal at the old Wembley in 1999 to win the FA Vase against Beddlington Terriers.

You wouldn’t think kick-off against Farnborough was 70 minutes away as we speak but enthusiasm leaps out of every word for Rogers, who was promoted to the role of manager in the autumn after his close friend Scott Bartlett went to manage Eastleigh.

‘I was more inclined to stay as assistant and help anyone who was going to come in,’ he says. ‘Some big names went for the job, like Gary Johnson and Mark Cooper, but then Oli Bliss (the chairman) said: “We want you to do it." So I thought to myself: “Why not give it a go?"’

Why not, indeed. He has found it a wrench to take a step back from being the good cop that the players could turn to but knows the dressing room – well marshalled by his captain, Emlyn Lewis, who is a lecturer at Cardiff Metropolitan University – is right behind him.

Lewis, a proud Welshman, is a force of nature. He was instrumental in organising a two-day break for the club Christmas party last month in which parts of Liverpool were brought to a stop; he was dressed as Gru, leader of the Minions in Despicable Me , with the rest of team bedecked as those little yellow creatures.

For a moment, during the draw for the third round, there was a fleeting belief that they would have been going back to Merseyside for this game – 200 people, holding their breath in the clubhouse, started to see Anfield on the horizon.

‘Two hundred people here at 7pm on a Monday night?’ says Rogers, who has three daughters with his wife, Kimberley. ‘What else would bring so many people together? The longer the draw went on, the more there were “oohs” and “aahs” – we were ball 49, Liverpool pulled out ball 50 (Barnsley).

Captain Emlyn Lewis (centre) is a force of nature, instrumental in organising a two-day break for the club Christmas party last month in which parts of Liverpool were brought to a stop

For a moment, during the draw for the third round, there was a fleeting belief that they were going to get Liverpool or Manchester City away

Rogers found it a wrench to take a step back from being the good cop that the players could turn to but knows the dressing room is right behind him

‘All the kids were screaming when Man City came out: “Come on, come on let it be us!” and then they got Exeter! and it was like: “Oh No!” Dennis, who the stand is named after, was with us, we were around the table watching it.

‘In the first round, we were the first ball out so that was an anticlimax. There was no “woah!” it was more “Oh! Bloody hell, we’re out – and we’ve got Aldershot”. We wanted Liverpool or Manchester United away but we got Grimsby!’

True but Grimsby - already giantkillers themselves this season in the Carabao Cup against Manchester United - could potentially become another scalp. Weston usually have gates of around 1,100 every other Saturday and they are anticipating taking more than 600 on the four-hour journey north; Thatcher’s, the local cider brewers and a club sponsor, are subsiding coach travel.

The convoy will set off at 9am and Tim Clarke, who has been the club announcer for 11 years, could barely contain his excitement; he has rehearsals for Beauty and the Beast on Sunday morning and is well aware that his day might not end until 3am but isn’t it worth being tired?

‘The town is starting to believe,’ he declares. ‘You can feel it here, can’t you? There is the chance to do something special and it isn’t beyond these players. We got to the second of the FA Cup eight years ago against Doncaster but this is the biggest game we have known.’

You wouldn’t be betting against them, either. Weston played attractive football when they could against Farnborough, the goals in a 4-1 win coming from Lewis and a hat-trick from Luke Coulson, who is 31 now but had a spell at Manchester City’s academy as a teenager.

Louis Britton is a bright attacker, whose best moment for Bristol City came when he scored against Brentford, for whom David Raya was in goal, in May 2021; Luke Spokes and George Robesten have been brought in as January signings from Kidderminster and Ross County respectively.

They are doing things properly and yesterday Weston had the chance to stretch their legs at Sheffield United’s training ground en route to their base for the night in Lincoln, where – according to Rogers – they will 'have a meal and a big quiz' before an early night.

Weston vice-captain Luke Coulson, 31, came through the Man City academy

Opponents Grimsby have already pulled off their own cup miracle this season, knocking out Manchester United on penalties in the League Cup second round

‘We have got to do it properly,’ says Rogers. ‘It is such a huge game, we have to give ourselves the best opportunity to win the game'

‘We have got to do it properly,’ says Rogers. ‘It is such a huge game, we have to give ourselves the best opportunity to win the game. One of my best friends is mates with Chris Wilder and he rang him up to see if it was possible – I can’t thank Chris enough for what he has done.’

Thankful is something that Dennis Usher is, too. He is 97 and served in the RAF, taking part in the Berlin Airlift in 1948. He is a sprightly chap who makes sure he drives his car every day to the stadium for a walk. He is dressed immaculately, wearing his black-and-white club tie.

‘I won’t be going up to Grimsby, not at this point in my life,’ he says. ‘But I’m not complaining. I’ve had some wonderful times, with the stand being named after me and what have you, and I will be watching. What does it mean to me?’

He pauses, takes a sip from his cup of warming coffee, and then captures it all.

‘It means everything.’