Newport Pagnell: Penalty-hero keeper Martin Conway wants another shootout at Wembley
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Newport Pagnell goalkeeper Martin Conway saved three Hamworthy penalties in the shootout - and scored one too
Not many players dream of ending a first Wembley appearance with a nerve-shredding penalty shootout - but Newport Pagnell goalkeeper Martin Conway is no ordinary footballer.
Not only has he saved penalties in three different shootouts to help the non-league Buckinghamshire side reach the FA Vase final - he has scored from the spot in all three too.
"As soon as it gets to penalties I back myself all day long," Conway told BBC Three Counties Radio after Pagnell's dramatic 6-5 semi-final shootout win over Hamworthy United.
"I said to the manager I will take whatever number you want - one, four, five, I don't care, I'm happy to take any of them. I back myself and I think it showed.
"Saving penalties at Wembley and we'll win on pens? Yes. I'm just so happy to get there - we are going to savour this."
Conway saved three of Hamworthy's penalties in the shootout, but also scored Newport's third spot-kick to continue his amazing record in the competition with both hands and feet.
While goalkeepers often claim the headlines when a game is decided from 12 yards, Pagnell assistant boss Gary Chance believes Conway's exploits make him one of a kind.
"He's probably our most consistent penalty taker," Chance told BBC 3CR.
"He doesn't take them in open play but we always back him to score and we always back him to save - he's an unbelievable keeper at this level of football."
United Counties League outfit Pagnell will face Littlehampton Town, who also play in the fifth tier of non-league football, in the Vase final at Wembley on 22 May.
"I think Newport's going to be moving to Wembley come May. The whole town and more - the whole of Milton Keynes, Bedfordshire, it's going to be special," added Conway.
Wembley trip a "game-changer" for Pagnell
Newport Pagnell play in the United Counties League Premier Division South
Conway, Chance, manager Gary Flinn and the rest of the coaching and playing staff are now counting down the days to the club's historic maiden Wembley appearance.
But head of football Vivion Cox is looking even further into the future after a memorable run that has already spanned eight rounds.
"I don't know how the financial implications will pan out for us, but the prize money is huge for a club of our size," he told BBC Three Counties Radio.
"We want to use this as a platform to build the club going forward. We have great ambition. We've become the heartbeat of the town of late and we want them to be proud.
"These things are a game-changer for a step five team.
"Over the last couple of years we've assembled a good and entertaining team. The crowds have almost doubled and hopefully this will take us to the next level."
More than 1,700 fans watched Pagnell draw 1-1 with Hamworthy before triumphing on penalties at Willen Road - with the town's mayor Paul Day, a Pagnell season-ticket holder, among them.
"In the run-up a lot of people in the town were saying they had never been so emotionally invested in a game of football," said Day.
"Afterwards we spent six hours in town with random people coming up and hugging each other - it was just wonderful."
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