“IT’S Bolton’s turn tonight!” they announced on North West Tonight.

Had the BBC’s regional news team risked alienating half of Merseyside? Maybe they had been crystal ball gazing.

In fairness, Roger Johnson and Annabel Tiffin were simply setting the scene for a potential FA Cup upset 24 hours after Preston had beaten Sheffield United to book fifth-round tie with Manchester United. It was all good regional stuff – parochial, you might say, compared to the main feature that was to follow in the Corporation’s primetime evening slot.

Not surprisingly, the Match of the Day team followed the David and Goliath theme with Gary Lineker declaring Wanderers were looking to become the fourth lower league side to bring down Premier League opposition in a fourth round of “seismic shocks”.

Lineker was joined by injured Wanderer and Liverpool FA Cup winner Emile Heskey and ex-Anfield midfielder-turned-pundit Danny Murphy. It was pitch for impartiality, although there was still a strong Merseyside accent, underlined when the spotlight fell on Steven Gerrard, who was making his 700th Liverpool appearance and who will celebrate his 35th birthday on FA Cup final day.

An omen, surely. But then the Beeb dipped into their archives for clips from 1993 and gave centre-stage to John McGinlay, Tony Kelly and David Lee – three heroes from the original White Hot night.

Hairs stood up on necks. Come on you Whites!

Sadly, the modern day Wanderers were unable to emulate their forebears, although they came desperately, heartbreakingly close.

It wasn't to be Bolton's night, but thanks to their national and international profile, there was at least the consolation of knowing the legend of the White Hot 1993 giantkillers is no longer confined to “these parts”, as Lineker suggested.