Foxes FA Cup victory is 'icing on the cake'

It was another dream day for Leicester City fans as they watched their team beat Chelsea 1-0 at Wembley to claim their first ever FA Cup.

The victory comes five years after the Foxes stunned the football world by overcoming odds of 5,000/1 to win the Premier League title.

The club had featured in the final four times before but had never lifted the coveted trophy.

Fans have been reflecting on what the Wembley triumph means to them.

"I cried," admits Rich Chapman, who has supported them for 58 years. "I'd never in my wildest dreams have thought anything like this would happen.

"When they do the draw they're not going to say 'Leicester, who have lost it four times', any more. They're going to say 'Leicester, the defending champions'.

"To a lot of us older generation, this means possibly more than winning the Premier League.

"It's the one we yearned for, the one we talked about what it'd be like to win in the pub when we were younger.

"It's also been the missing piece, and we've got a complete domestic set. The dream continues."

About 6,000 Foxes fan had been allowed back to Wembley, but for most supporters watching the game meant staying at home or braving the elements in a pub beer garden.

Before kick-off at the Framework Brewery in Leicester, which had set up a large screen for the event, many were hopeful but clearly nervous.

"The romantic in me says we'll win," one fan said. "But I'm just not sure."

The mood remained fairly subdued for most of the game until Youri Tielemans scored in the 63rd minute and the scent of victory electrified the atmosphere.

Everyone was on the edge of their seat for the next half an hour - particularly when it seemed, for a few moments, that Chelsea had equalised before the goal was ruled out by VAR.

But when the final whistle blew and the Foxes had won by a whisker, the crowd went wild.

Imogen Fowler was so moved, she began to cry with joy.

The 20-year-old is a Leicester fan because of her late grandfather and said this would have been "the cherry on top" for him.

"I can't believe what happened," she said.

"This means so much. It doesn't get better than this."

Nitin Bhat, 18, from Oadby, said: "I'm so happy I've been able to experience this with all my friends here. To win the FA Cup is special.

"We've been one of the underdogs for ages and now we've come through."

Rick, 34, had brought his 11-year-old son Seth to watch the match.

He said: "It means the world, especially after the year we've had with Covid and not being able to go to a game.

"It's meant so much to come here. To be with the fans and to see them raise the trophy - it's the icing on the cake."

Lee Lester, middle name Fox (he showed his ID to prove it), had come with his family to watch the game.

The 36-year-old said: "If someone had told me 20 years ago that we'd be winning the FA Cup, I'd have laughed.

"The last five years have been a fairytale. I'm on cloud nine.

"Growing up, the whole country would stop for the FA Club, there's just something special about it."

Robert Charles, 61, watched the Foxes lose to Manchester City in the 1969 FA Cup final - the last time they made it this far in the competition.

He said this win meant he could finally "forgive them" after a 52-year wait.

"For everyone like me who, as a 10-year-old, watched them lose back in 1969, this is the biggest thing ever in terms of football," he said.

"It means everything."

As the fans say, "Foxes never quit" - and after waiting more than a century, that perseverance has finally paid off.

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