COUNDON Conservative Club are hoping to crown a remarkable journey by lifting the FA Carlsberg Sunday Cup against Bristol Lebeq Tavern at Anfield on Sunday.

The village of Coundon, close to Bishop Auckland, will be virtually empty as around a thousand fans in a convoy of buses and cars make the journey across the Pennines to the home of Premiership giants and European Cup finalists Liverpool, and hopefully cheer the Cons to lift the cup in their first venture in the competition.

Manager Paul Aldsworth, nicknamed Pele by all and sundry, is the man who formed the club a decade ago, and has seen it progress through the local Sunday leagues to its greatest ever moment on Sunday.

Just going to Anfield will be a treat for the fans, as their seats will be in the famous Kop, which witnessed a thrilling Champions League semi-final between Liverpool and Chelsea just a few days ago, and Pele wants to make the day even more memorable.

The club existed at various locations in Coundon and played in the Darlington Sunday Morning League, before joining the Wear Valley League. "When we started playing in the early days, a 6-0 defeat was a good result," said Pele.

"But we steadily got better. We won the First Division of the Darlington league three years in a row, and we switched to the Wear Valley League, and we got a few good players. Every year we've got better and better.

"The village of Coundon has always had a good football background. For example, Coundon Three Tuns won the Durham Challenge Cup twenty years ago, but this year I think we've surpassed anything previously done.

"It's a great day in everybody's lives, and personally I'll be glad when we get to Anfield, because so much work has gone into this, not only by me, but by the club officials. Our chairman Richard Johnson and the other committee men have been working flat out since we got to the final making arrangements and selling mementoes. This game has taken over our lives in the last few weeks, we've never talked about anything but the final.

"People who I've spoken to have told us to make the most of the day, and to enjoy every minute of the build up and the game. It will be great to walk out on to the pitch, look towards the Kop, and see our supporters there waving their red and white colours. What a moment that will be, something that we never dared dream about a few years ago. A team from Coundon in a cup final at Anfield? Who would have thought it? I'm sure there'll be a lump in my throat, and in a few others as well."

The Cons' strength is its team spirit. "The players feel really involved with the club. We're all mates, we've been in a few scrapes. but we've always stuck together. All the players are fairly local. There's one from Consett, five from Newton Aycliffe, one from Butterknowle, five from Bishop Auckland and six from Coundon. There's a really strong camaraderie amongst them.

"I know that Phil Brumwell has played at Liverpool before for Sunderland Reserves, but I think he's the only one who has played there. We're going to have a look around the ground on Saturday, and hopefully that will help the lads get used to the place. Somebody asked me if any of the lads have had a trial at Liverpool, and I told him that as far as I know, they must have been found not guilty!"

Pele hasn't exactly been on a spying mission to see Bristol Lebeq, who have reached the Gloucestershire Sunday FA Cup final and their own league cup final in recent weeks, but he knows something about them from friends in the game who have been to see them play.

"They have a big tall centre half, and an equally tall centre forward, so that's something we'll have to take into account. It's a matter of trying to get our tactics right. In the last round, we played the wrong formation at Hinckley, but we quickly changed things around and got it sorted out.

"But no matter what the tactics are, it's a matter of what happens on the day. I don't think the lads will freeze because of the experience we have in the team. We're going into the game as underdogs, but we've been in the same situation all the way through, I thought we'd lose to Elland in our first game, but we won 3-0, and Elland were raving about our performance afterwards.

"I refused to get carried away, but suddenly we thought we were on to something when we beat the holders, Hetton Lyons in the next round. We frustrated them by playing a 3-6-1 formation! Since then, we've scraped through against clubs like Paddock from Liverpool, who were fancied to do well.

"But it's more than just the players who have got us here. There's our committee men, our helpers, and our sponsors such as Barrier Surveillance. Without them, we wouldn't have got to Anfield. They've helped to make the dream come true."