A DISCOVERY in a cupboard at the County Ground has got staff excited by the possibility that a century-old trophy, missing for a many years, has been found.

Two members of the Swindon Town office staff pulled out a giant ornament during some routine maintenance on Friday, only to identify it as the Dubonnet Cup - the prize the Town team of 1910 were awarded for winning a competition in Paris.

One hundred and four years ago, Harold Fleming scored both goals as Swindon beat Barnsley 2-1 to lift the trophy at the Parc des Princes. A replica was given to the Robins to take home with them across the channel, while the giant, bronze original went AWOL in recent years.

Town historian Paul Plowman is not convinced that the discovery made at the County Ground yesterday is the real thing.

He said: “There was a Dubonnet Cup on display in the foyer at the County Ground for some years.

“It was on a plinth and somebody ran into it, ran past it and knocked it off and the thing shattered.

“It didn’t hit me at the time that that would have been a replica because the original was bronze and weighed about 50 kilos.

“It was difficult to lift up and wouldn’t have shattered if it had been knocked off a plinth.

“I don’t know where they discovered it from and whether it’s the same replica or whether it’s the original.

“I would need to have a look at it and study it and see which it is.

“I can’t really believe it would be the original. I’d thought the cup was contested for a year after we won it.

“That would suggest there was another cup or another replica issued for the winners.

“It’s a very interesting story but I’d need to have a look at it.

“I’m not sure when it disappeared.

“There were rumours of it being used as a flower pot in a director’s garden but you can’t say anything like that with any sort of certainty.”