Blog: The first of many Wembley trips

To walk down Wembley Way, to see the Saddlers flags flying, to see my team walk out in front of 72,000 people, it was truly amazing.

The weekend seemed to be over in a flash but it shouldn't be a full stop. This should be the beginning not the end.

Credit should go to the players and management for getting us there in the first place. But in Bristol City we had the misfortune to come up against what is virtually a Championship side. How often in the history of this competition have the runaway leaders of the third tier been one of the finalists?

Apart from a few minor quibbles (Little definitely handled the ball for the decisive second goal), there's no doubt we didn't do ourselves justice and were beaten by the better team.

If we didn't compete on the pitch, there's no doubt that we were magnificent off it. Almost 30,000 demonstrates the devotion, the affection and the potential that some of us have always felt is there.

There were so many young fans who were getting their first taste of football, so many old faces, so many casual supporters joining the diehards, it would be criminal if the club didn't tap into these positives and build on them.

How's about doing something immediate to continue the feelgood(ish) factor? With the novelty of a Good Friday home game against Notts County coming up, we could do with seeing the Banks's rocking; something that needs to happen on a more regular basis anyway.

A £5 discount on the admission price on production of a Wembley ticket stub, with a £5 cashback for every season ticket holder, could achieve this. Do the maths and it is not only financially plausible but it could be the first step towards attracting more people more often.

So what of the remaining nine matches? First priority has to be enough points to stay up (which I suspect may be more than 50 this year) but we need to see a reaction to the events of last Sunday.

Watching Dean and the players on the big screen at Wembley perform the walk that no one wants to walk to collect their runners-up medals, I sensed a huge disappointment and deflation but I also sensed a determination on their faces to put things right.

The squad needs to be together, the unfortunate situation with Cain seems to have been handled correctly, and hopefully there is nothing in the stories about O'Connor too. Players should be hurt at missing out on such a big day, but you cannot disrespect your teammates, your club, your fans.

And then there's the question of next season. I'd be surprised if League One is as strong next year, therefore it follows that the JPT won't be as strong (even though teams leaving the opposite ends of League One and Two could lead us to become Soft Southerners) so why can't we be challengers?

Keep the squad together, see the likes of O'Donnell, Downing, Mantom, Sawyers and Forde another year further on in their development, see some of the youngsters continue to knock on the door, make a couple of key additions and we could be contenders.

Wembley, we waited so long for it to happen but you know what? We quite like it and we want to go back there, and soon.

We will return, and next time we will win.