AS a latecomer to professional football, David Eyres felt blessed to have played at Wembley once.

To do it three times was beyond his wildest dreams. But he wasn’t just there for another day out in the sun.

He was hungry for another promotion.

Ninety minutes, three goals and two red cards later, the winger got his wish on May 29, 1994, as Burnley went up to the old Division One.

It was his goal – his 29th that season – that cancelled out Chris Beaumont’s second-minute opener and inspired the Clarets to success against bitter rivals Stockport County.

His good friend Gary Parkinson finished the job.

Out of his hat-trick of Wembley appearances, all of them play-off finals, he’d saved the best until last.

“I remember distinctly the drive from the hotel to Wembley Stadium,” Eyres recalled.

“We were given a police escort through the streets, which were lined with fans. It was a mass of claret and blue.

“Once we were inside you could see that Stockport fans had decent support, but nothing in comparison to us. You’d have thought we were playing at Turf Moor. There just seemed to be nothing but Burnley fans wherever you looked.

“It might sound a bit corny now, but Jimmy Mullen stood up and said, ‘We can’t let them down’. But we knew that.

“When we went out we were greeted with an almighty roar.

“The supporters were incredible. It looked like an FA Cup final day with a full semi-circle of them inside the stadium – from the Royal Box all the way round to the opposite side of the halfway line.

“There was no way we wanted to lose and have to walk back down the tunnel towards them all.”

In the end, he need not have worried. But Eyres had mixed emotions from his two previous trips to the national stadium, so he knew there were no guarantees.

His debut, in 1991, was a momentous occasion in itself. But it ended in disappointment as his first club, Blackpool, were beaten by Torquay.

Tears turned to cheers 12 months later as they took their frustrations at failing to secure automatic promotion out on Scunthorpe United, on penalties.

“I scored the last penalty for Blackpool, and a certain Graham Alexander missed. I always thank him for that,” smiled the Scouser.

“All of my Wembley appearances had been special in different ways.

“The first time, even though we’d lost, it was a new experience for me.

“I’d only ever been there as a fan, although admittedly not often with Everton!

“We should have beaten Torquay but lost on penalties in the end, so we were determined not to miss out the following year. It was great to celebrate in the same ground 12 months down the line.

“But the one with Burnley was something else.

“I’d signed that season and scored 28 goals going into the game.

“I feared the worst when we went a goal down almost straight away, but they had two sent off and when John Francis went off injured I was told to play up front with Inchy (Adrian Heath) and we never looked back.

“I got the equaliser. To score a goal at Wembley is what dreams are made of, but I could have had a hat-trick. I hit the bar twice, first after rounding the keeper and then a header in the second half.

“To walk away from Wembley with the matchball would have been unbelievable.

“But you couldn’t have had a better person score the winning goal, and Parky certainly milked it!

“I had my hands in the air and tears streaming down my face after I scored.

“When Parky scored in front of all the Burnley fans my legs went to jelly. He wasn’t the quickest but none of us could catch him. He must have had Linford Christie’s legs on, and then he hurdled the fence and carried on running towards the fans.

“If Parky scored it was either a screamer or an important goal.

“It was certainly more the latter because the ball had killed plenty of worms as it bobbled in!

“We had some great players in that squad, and a great manager too in Jimmy Mullen. I was a big soft kid just knowing I was playing in the same team as Adrian Heath, one of my Everton heroes.

“We had great leaders in John Pender and Steve Davis, and big, strong characters like Les Thompson, John Deary and John Francis.”

The road to Wembley, though, had been unforgiving. An away win at Plymouth in the play-off semi-final second leg was only their fifth, in league and cup, that term.

They had finished sixth by virtue of their outstanding home form.

“But for our away form we would have walked away with the league, but when it came to the big day all those players stood up and were counted,” said Eyres.

“We only started playing to our potential after Stockport went ahead, and of course the sendings off went in our favour.

“We should have won three, four or 5-1, but we did enough.”

He added: “I wish I could go back 17 years to just after the game had finished and soak up some more of the atmosphere and the feeling.

“We just didn’t want to come off the pitch, we wanted to carry on celebrating with the fans.

“After that we went to the dressing room got in the big bath and drank, then we went to the players’ bar then on to a party with our families.

“I didn’t know what had hit me the next day. It didn’t start to sink in until I saw it all spread across the national papers.

“Only the big teams and the big players got coverage like that. But there we were, and we soon realised what we’d achieved.

“At 25 I thought my chance of turning professional had gone so to play three times at Wembley in the early part of my career was incredible.”

Click on the links below to read the other instalments of the David Eyres story.