ANDY PEAKS repeated the mantra before, during and after the best two hours of his football career.
“Believe in yourself. To believe. To believe. To believe. I tell you week in and week out, people don't want to come here. THEY certainly don't want to be here. Stay in the game and see where it takes you.”
They were meant to be lambs to the slaughter, but for 120 glorious, sweat-soaked, fist-clenched minutes, little Tamworth roared like lions.
And I was privileged to be at the center of this, as SunSport was given access to the kind of access rarely seen at this level.
We love the FA Cup and, after Tamworth's exploits, I'm sure the nation has once again fallen head over heels for this unique, historic competition after witnessing this epic duel between David and Goliath.
I spent the week shadowing Tamworth manager Peaks, general manager Scott Rickards, club secretary Archie Baynham and the players, those red and black-clad warriors who took on Tottenham.
I was with them clearing the ice off the cars in -4 degrees Celsius at 10:30pm on Thursday, after their ONLY training session of the week.
If that's what they could have produced after just 90 minutes of preparation to take on Ange Postecoglou's millionaires, imagine what they could have done if they had worked full time?
The Peaks team included a taxi driver, builder, bricklayer, marketing manager, financial advisor, engineer, teacher, sandwich maker and even a zipper salesman.
But he has somehow found a way to transform this group of part-time fighters into serial scrappers and serial winners after back-to-back title wins.
I shared breakfast with the crew after they gathered at the nearby Drayton Manor Hotel, in the theme park grounds, for the thrill ride of a lifetime.
And I was sitting with them in the team coach on the short journey to The Lamb, when overly eager security staff stopped us at the entrance – to make sure the luxury coach with Tamworth FC on the front was indeed what it said on the tin . .
That comical moment lightened the mood among the players ahead of the biggest match of their lives. The tension built up during the pre-match warm-ups.
I walked past the Spurs dressing room and saw some of their star players being strapped to the treatment table they had brought with them – in the chilly corridor outside.
And I was there to hear Peaks demand that his players believe this could be their day during his inspiring pre-match team talk.
Then came the roar of 3,000 Tamworth fans… and the murmur of 800 Tottenham supporters who were probably still rubbing the sleep from their dull eyes.
Mighty Tottenham towered over Tamworth, in the fifth tier, a whopping 96 places above them in the football pyramid.
The structure of both parties could not have been much more polarized.
Tamworth returned home at 2.30am on Wednesday morning with tears in their eyes after a 1-0 FA Trophy defeat to Sutton United.
Spurs warmed up with a 1-0 win over Liverpool in the Carabao Cup semi-final.
But first there was an unexpected hiccup as kick-off was delayed by five minutes after one of the nets came loose from its hooks.
Spurs stars looked stunned as a ladder and net technician was called in.
However, Lambs winger Beck-Ray Enoru – usually a sales assistant for Zara – sprang into action and climbed onto the shoulders of giant defender Jordan Cullinane-Liburd to save the day.
The job was done and the army of Tamworth fans in the Shed sang: “We are Tamworth… we mend our own nets!” And then we were gone.
Tamworth went out with a flyer as Enoru almost found the Spurs net with a shot that goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky managed to save.
First-team coach Tim Dudding turned to me and said, “Whatever happens now… at least we had a chance.”
He didn't have to worry. By the end of a dramatic afternoon, Tamworth had fired thirteen shots to Tottenham's seventeen.
As Peaks ate tea from a cardboard box, it quickly became clear that something special was brewing.
Jas Singh – whose partner gave birth to a son on Saturday evening – was defiant in Tamworth's goal, defying James Maddison more than once.
Tom Tonks threw in his trademark Howitzer long throws and Kinsky looked uncomfortable as he missed one completely before regaining his composure.
At half-time, Peaks urged his team to take another big step: “Everyone has played their part. You beat them, you took them out, we look like a threat when we get one.
“More of the same. More of the same. Don't switch off.
“They'll probably get beat up for not hurting you.”
As we got ready for the second half, Peaks turned to me, smiled and said, “At least they don't have much to bring to the bank.”
However, Tamworth forced Postecoglou to bring in all his big guns as Lucas Bergvall, Dominic Solanke, Dejan Kulusevski, Son Heung-min and Djed Spence entered the fray.
“We wanted Arsenal… we wanted Arsenal,” Tamworth fans jeered.
Ange remained calm throughout but he breathed a sigh of relief when Tom McGlichey's shot was blocked, before Kinsky made a crucial save to deny Cullinane-Liburd in the dying seconds.
The deadlock was finally broken eleven minutes into extra time when Spurs scored after a controversial free-kick, harshly awarded by referee Peter Bankes.
The villain of the day, Pedro Porro, prepared to shoot but let the ball slide around the wall and in the chaos that followed the ball ricocheted off Nathan Tshikuna's knee and into his own net.
It was a cruel blow, but Peaks reminded his side at half-time: “Keep the faith, you get one chance.”
It fell to McGlinchey whose audacious chip flew just over while Kinsky was stranded.
Unfortunately for the Lambs, Kulusevski and Brennan Johnson took theirs to flatter the visitors with a 3-0 win.
Afterwards, Peaks was full of praise for his heroes.
He told them, “That was a different class. I don't think you realize how good you were sometimes.
“You have all been part of an incredible day. Be disappointed because we came so close to rewriting the history books.
“The overall performance, the attitude, they're excited to comment on how good you were. Well done.”
This was without a doubt Peaks' performance.
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