With victory over Dandy Town at the National Stadium tomorrow, Flanagan’s Onions can become only the second team to win the FA Cup and be relegated from the Premier Division in the same season.

PHC Zebras are the only team to achieve the unique feat to date having done so during the 1979-80 season.

Zebras beat Warwick United 2-1 in an enthralling contest to clinch an unprecedented eighth FA Cup title under coach Leroy Lewis.

Kallan Johnson, the late Zebras forward, gave PHC the lead with a 42nd minute strike. Warwick eventually hit back in the 51st minute through a goal from powerful striker Elvin James that brought the teams level.

But PHC regained the lead when Cleveland State University student James Paynter scored the match-winner in the 67th minute.

“It was a sad but happy season and I was one of the youngest members in that team,” Jack Castle, the former PHC defender, said.

“It was sad because it was the first time the club had ever been relegated to the Second Division.

“On the other hand it was a joyous occasion because we made history as the first club to take the FA Cup to the Second Division.”

PHC’s historical feat came one year shy of the tenth anniversary of the club’s sole Triple Crown success, having won the First Division, Friendship Trophy and FA Cup under coach Ed Durham in 1970-71.

Warwick’s defeat against PHC in the 1979-80 FA Cup final deprived them of a unique double, having won the First Division Shield a week earlier under coach Rick Richardson, who would win the prestigious cup with Southampton Rangers fours seasons later.