Bert Tyldesley followed the fortunes of Bolton Wanderers through eight decades and kept a diary of his time in the terraces. With the kind permission of his family, we bring you his reflections on that journal, entitled: 75 Years a Wandering.

As we rose blearly-eyed on March 8, 1995, we noted through them that the world was white and becoming whiter by the second – could the Coca Cola Cup second leg against Swindon be postponed?

Our spirits were not raised by a glance at the newspaper, which told us Middlesbrough had beaten Watford and Sheffield United had beaten Tranmere Rovers the previous evening. If Wolves and Reading win tonight while we are messing about trying to get to Wembley, we’ll be out of the play-off frame.

God, why wasn’t I born like Gordon, my friend from next door, who though grew up in Bolton doesn’t even know where Burnden Park is?

Hopes had been sky high in the first leg of the semi-final at the County Ground, the Wanderers atop the First Division table expected to deal with Swindon, a lowly 20th position, six points above the relegation zone. But how it turned out on live TV – which is how some of us old codgers saw it – was quite different.

It had all been going swimmingly when Alan Stubbs scored from Alan Thompson’s corner early on. A complete obliteration of the underdogs looked to be on the cards when Nicky Hammond made a wonderful save from David Lee and Stubbs missed a carbon copy of his first chance.

Then we started to realise Swindon were getting to the ball quicker, and realising that Scott Green was a midfielder masquerading as a full-back, began to bombard that flank with regularity. Sure enough, 37 minutes in, a cross from that neck of the woods was turned in by Peter Thorne and/or Jimmy Phillips and the game was level.

Despite some urgency added by the arrival of John McGinlay off the bench in the second half it came as no surprise when Jan Age Fjortoft, the classy Norwegian striker, left Green for dead and darted between Simon Coleman and Stubbs to deliver a perfect ball for Thorne to side-foot his second of the evening with 14 minutes left.

McGinlay did leave a mark on the game, quite literally, as his robust challenge on Mark Robinson earned him a yellow card. The Swindon defender’s reaction – a fist to the back of the head – gave the referee no option but to send him off, meaning he would be suspended for the second leg.

As the day continued, fears that the second leg would go ahead dissipated as the snow gave way to some rain.

So, there we were, chugging up to Burnden Park in Michael’s venerable Lada, wondering about Wembley, knowing that despite having held a car parking space outside the entrance to A Block for 25 years we always have to arrive early on the big occasions to pinch someone’s bay parking because mine is always occupied by a TV van.

Not that Wembley seemed the remotest possibility 12 minutes into the second half as Wanderers abandoned their normal cultured approach for the headless chicken variety, which does not suit them.

Lee had clipped the post, McGinlay bringing a save out of Fraser Digby, but the first half remained goalless and it looked like being ‘one of those nights’ as the game became more ragged, and Bolton more dispirited.

When the match resumed, Mark Patterson set off at such a rate of knots, covering every inch of sand and dirt and clobbering everything in sight that we predicted judiciously that he had been told to soften up the opposition for 15 minutes before being replaced by Richard Sneekes.

As it happened, the Dutchman did arrive, but not before Fjortoft had stabbed home Kevin Horlock’s flick on from Joey Beauchamp’s corner to put Bolton 3-1 down overall.

Wanderers needed two to take the game to extra-time and three for outright victory. Of the 19,851 present, it was the 3,756 who could be heard celebrating a victory which looked assured.

Mixu Paatelainen replaced Owen Coyle. Within two minutes the Finnish striker flicked into the path of Alan Thomson, whose shot bounced off the post into the path of Jason McAteer to bury with aplomb and gusto. It all happened so quickly my only memory is of the midfielder running into the back of the net to recover the ball and racing back to the centre spot.

Seven minutes later Sneekes ran at the Swindon defence and was stopped in full flight by two Swindon defenders. The ball dribbled into Paatelainen’s path and he lashed a 25-yard left-footer, leaving Digby helpless and Burnden Park delirious.

With a full 19 minutes left, the finishing line was in sight. And it just had to be John McGinlay.

With extra time beckoning, Thompson’s free kick rebounded into his path. One breath later, he was celebrating a goal that had taken Bolton Wanderers to Wembley.

“There’s something special about Wembley” said Jack Charlton, who had been working as an ITV summariser. And that is where we were going, on April 2, to be exact, and against Liverpool for good measure.