he drove down to London to watch Shaun Goater become the first Bermudian to play in a Wembley final.

Last night Lightbourne's team, Stoke City, booked their place in the April 16 final when they beat Rochdale 1-0 in the second leg of their Auto Windscreens Shield northern final last night which gave them a 4-1 aggregate win.

Lightbourne, unable to reclaim his starting position since returning from World Cup duty, came on as part of a double substitution in the 57th minute.

The player keeping Lightbourne out of the team is on-loan player Arnar Gunnlaugsson from Leicester who was one of the two players substituted. Today is the transfer deadline day if Stoke are to sign Gunnlaugsson permanently.

Last night's winning goal was scored by top scorer Peter Thorne in the 86th minute when he netted with a back post header to a freekick from Graham Kavanagh, sending the 16,800 crowd at Stoke's Brittania Stadium wild.

It was back on April 14, 1996 that Lightbourne went to Wembley as Shaun Goater's guest when Rotherham United beat Shrewsbury 2-1 in the Auto Windscreens final.

On April 16, Lightbourne, with Goater and their wives going along for support, will get his first taste of Wembley as a player when Stoke meet Goater's former team, Bristol City, in the final.

However, Lightbourne and Goater are facing a dilemma as Bermuda are scheduled to play Antigua in their rescheduled second round, first leg World Cup qualifier on that same day.

"It's every player's dream to play there and I'm no different,'' Lightbourne told the Royal Gazette last week. "I've never been this close to Wembley in eight years of playing in England. It might be my last chance to play at Wembley and I feel I've got to take it.'' Goater is also reluctant to leave his team, Manchester City, in their most critical period of the season as they are slipping in their bid for automatic promotion.

Tuesday's 2-2 draw in the derby match against Stockport made it six games without a win for City. They are back in fourth place, two points behind Ipswich, who won last night, and Barnsley, who won on Tuesday, but City have a game in hand.

Kyle Lightbourne: set for his first Wembley appearance.