I was crying tears of joy...

DREAMS can come true: Oldham Athletic players and staff celebrate yesterday’s stunning FA Cup victory over Premier League giants Liverpool

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By (super-proud Latics season-ticket holder and Chronicle reporter) DAWN MARSDEN

IT’S not often you see grown men bawling their eyes out.

Then again, it’s not often grown men have just witnessed Latics win a game. And not just any game.

Lowly Latics — currently languishing in the bottom half of the third tier of English football — claimed victory over Liverpool, who have 18 Premiership titles, seven FA Cups and five European Championships to their name.

Before kick-off, any Latics fan would have taken a draw. To be honest, we wanted to avoid a cricket score.

But when super striker Matt Smith put the boys in blue in front after just two minutes, we started to believe anything was possible.

And we still believed when Suarez equalised. The singing never stopped.

When Oldham went 2-1 up, we started to get a bit giddy. 3-1 and our wildest fantasies were beginning to come true right before our eyes.

Then Joe Allen made it 3-2 and Latics fans knew they faced a tense wait until the final whistle. When Steve Gerrard hit the bar we all collectively held our breath.

And how sweet did that final whistle sound?

Fans stormed the pitch, almost scared to actually believe what they’d just witnessed.

On a personal level, yesterday’s win is on a par with the birth of my son and my wedding day.

And we’ve already proved we can conquer Everton — bring it on!


In tonight’s paper: special 12-page victory supplement with masses of stories player comments and pictures. Also available in the eChron (click tab above)