Thomas chasing the dream as minnows prepare for a crack at Cardiff

Since the lowest-ranked team to reach the FA Cup third round had been drawn against Cardiff City, the defender had been plotting his revenge.

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Thomas, 29, was among a group of Birmingham City supporters who watched Fowler wreck their Worthington Cup Final dream at Cardiff seven years ago and he wanted payback in tomorrow's game.

Thomas, who works for BT, and his part-time Chasetown teammates are in the British Gas Business Division One Midlands — the fourth tier of non-league football.

To a man, they wanted Fowler to play and Thomas in particular did.

He said: "I was at the final when Fowler scored a great goal. It was 30 yards out. It was a stunner.

"We scored a last-minute penalty to equalise, had another turned down in extra-time when Andrew Johnson was fouled and then we lose in typical Birmingham City fashion. On penalties.

"Manager Trevor Francis was crying, AJ was crying. People around me were in tears.

"I remember that while the rest of the Liverpool players were celebrating, Fowler went and shook the hands of every Blues player.

"That was a nice touch. So when I saw the draw I just thought: 'Robbie Fowler'. It would be a chance to get my own back if I could keep him quiet.

"We were all gutted when he was injured. Danny Smith, our striker, had a small statue of Fowler in his bedroom — I was going to say: 'when he was little' but he still is!

"We hope Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink plays. It's not a case of being scared. We just want the opportunity to play against the top professionals so we can say: 'Yeah, I've played against him and he was all right' or 'I've played against him and he's class'."

Vaughan meets me outside a nondescript building in the middle of Walsall.

One of his BT colleagues, who he had never spoken to before, engages him in conversation. There is only one topic on everyone's lips.

Reading striker Dave Kitson said this week that he did not give two s***s about the FA Cup but if he had not made his mark with Cambridge United, allowing him to leave a job stacking supermarket shelves, this article could have been about him.

Top professionals may see it as little more than a distraction, but the FA Cup matters to people in this corner of Staffordshire.

It has cost Chasetown's owners £30,000 to stage the match at their Scholars ground, capacity just over 2,000, and it is the biggest game there since Oldham's visit in the FA Cup first round in November 2005 was shown live on television.

It matters to football fans all over the country. When BT posted a good luck message to Vaughan and his teammates on their intranet site it became the biggest story, displacing a message from the chief executive about the share price.

Vaughan said: "My immediate work colleagues know that I play but I've had people in the building who I hardly know coming up to speak to me.

"We've got quite a big office in Swansea. I had a message from a lad who works there saying they were all Swansea fans and how much they wanted us to beat Cardiff. He said the whole building was behind us.

"Another one came through from the manager of Droylsden who lost to Harrogate Railway in the first round, wishing us good luck for the non-league."

Cardiff will start as overwhelming favourites. That is understandable, as Chasetown would have to be promoted six times to play them in the Championship.

But for people like Vaughan, tomorrow is their cup final.

He said: "Our manager, Charlie Blakemore, said after our second game in pre-qualifying: 'This will start snowballing, mark my words'.

"I took the mickey out of him a bit, saying: 'Yeah, Charlie, beat Rocester and we are on our way'.

"But he was right. It has snowballed. It's incredible. The FA Cup has been to the ground, we've had our picture taken with it. We're going to be on Match of the Day. You know what? We all feel 15ft tall."

Dave Kitson, hang your head in shame.