Millwall's Alan Dunne rekindles FA Cup love affair as Luton suffer harsh reality check I was heartbroken, but he told me he was only going to last 50 minutes, and then I would come on. So after half-time I started warming up, thinking I was going on, and ended up spending the whole half running up and down the touchline. Then when he decided to come off near the end, he chose to send on Curtis Weston so he could become the youngest player to appear in an FA Cup final. Like most footballers, Dunne has managed to take the positives from disappointment. "It was tough to take," he admitted. But I was only a young boy, and looking back, it was all part of growing up. I had a few words with Wisey afterwards. He was a friend as well as a manager, and he looked after me, so there are no grudges. He put his arm around me and we had a good drink that night. I might not have got on the pitch in the final, but it was still great to get a medal and be a part of it. Though it is almost a decade ago, Millwall's appearance in the Cup final and their subsequent, brief, European campaign is still remembered with immense fondness at the Den. It was a time when the club was, however fleetingly, able to shake off the unsavoury reputation that a small kernel of hooligans manages to perpetuate. The game on Saturday saw nasty chants - on both sides, it needs to be noted - a stand-off with police, and plenty of all-round lairiness. Seven arrests were made, with Bedfordshire Police hinting at more after video evidence has been scrutinised. Meanwhile, the sight of a party of drunken Millwall fans spewing racial slurs outside Luton train station on Saturday evening was a reminder that the club's bad press is not entirely unwarranted. But to happier things. To the irrepressible Kenny Jackett, the Championship's longest-serving manager, an exemplary ambassador for the club, and who is now just one game away from Wembley. "This is headlines for the right reasons," he said. It is what we all want to talk about, which is the football. A play-off final represents Luton's best chance of getting to Wembley, but they require significant improvement to rise from their position of eighth in the Conference. The defeat on Saturday was their fifth game without a win, and manager Paul Buckle said his players needed to adapt to thrive. "There's got to be a real acceptance that we're a non-league club," he said. I know what it takes to get out of the Conference. It takes things that are probably not easy on the eye, dogged performances, a whole group of players who are just willing to do the basics and are happy to go home at night being probably a six out of 10. Dunne's dream, meanwhile, lives on. And in his story lies something of the essence of the Cup. Often it makes dreams; every so often, it remakes them. "It would be lovely to get into the semi-finals or even the final," Dunne said, "and this time I'd love to be involved. That would make up for Cardiff.