As a man who spent his life working in the film industry, Boreham Wood FC chairman Danny Hunter is accustomed to fairytale endings, but nothing could have prepared him for what happened at AFC Bournemouth on Sunday night.

His non-league side knocked out the Cherries to set up an FA Cup fifth round tie against Everton at Goodison Park.

“The last big film I worked on was Willy Wonka but this really feels like we’ve got the golden ticket,” he tells me on the club’s pitch in the Hertfordshire town, where home crowds hover around the 900 mark.

“I’m a lifelong Chelsea fan, I’ve followed them since I was a boy, and now we’re off to face Frank Lampard in the last 16 of the FA Cup. It’s just magical. I’ve been all over the world watching Frank play for England.”

The magic of the FA Cup

The club bar is packed with movie memorabilia that Mr Hunter has collected over the years working on film sets, and now his club is producing its own blockbuster.

He had to re-mortgage his family home at the start of the pandemic to ensure the club’s survival as they dealt with the financial meltdown caused by COVID-19.

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Sunday’s cup win has netted them a cool £90,000. Not bad for 90 minutes on the south coast.

‘We deserve to be on TV’

“I’m hoping they put us on the telly in the next round. The lads deserve it, the club deserves it and our lovely little town deserves it.

“I stayed up until 5.30am just watching the match again. My phone felt like it was going to blow up, I’ve had so many messages!”

The club’s highly regarded young manager Luke Garrard is a huge Arsenal fan and is relishing the prospect of taking on Lampard’s Everton side.

“Let’s face it, Frank Lampard has forgotten more about football than I know so it’s going to be amazing to come up against him,” he said.

“I’m Arsenal through and through and he has just brought in [former Arsenal defender] Ashley Cole as a coach alongside him.”

He added: “It will be surreal to be taking them on. We are hugely excited. I’m just so proud of all the lads.

“I had a couple of messages from league managers and they said that if we have any bricklayers in the team, get them to build a brick wall because we are going to need it!”

Everton’s side will be jam-packed with internationals, but after not conceding a goal yet in their epic cup run, “the Wood” will head north full of confidence and determined to enjoy their fifth round day out.

For now though, the focus is on the next match and that’s Wrexham in the FA Trophy this weekend.

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