DESPITE watching his beloved Swindon suffer a heart-breaking 2-0 defeat to Chestefield, the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy final was still a memorable day for club stalwart Curly Withers.

The long serving tea man has worked at the club for the last three decades, and was Town boss Paolo Di Canio’s guest of honour on the bench along Roger Reeves who works with the club’s junior sides.

Di Canio took time out to talk to Withers as Chesterfield picked up the trophy, and the tea man has backed his hero to bounce back from a disappointing defeat.

“Paolo said to me that Swindon will be here again, and I think we will be,” he said. “He said to me that we missed out today, but you can’t always win, and that he wants to bring Swindon back to Wembley.

“Paolo is a lovely man and a brilliant manager, and I think he deserves to be successful, and I know he will.

“It was a very special honour for me to go to Wembley and it is something I will never forget,” he added.

“It was a great gesture from Paolo, and he has been very good to me.

“Everybody is devastated and it down in the dumps, but that is football and we have to regroup and concentrate on the league now.

“Paolo has got a very good team who play very good football now, and I am sure we will go up because I think we are the best team.”