IT WAS beyond anything I have ever experienced at a football match.

I’ve watched my ‘other’ team – Liverpool – win cup finals in dramatic circumstances at the Millennium Stadium and felt a surge of emotion.

I’ve watched my sons win and score in cup finals with their junior clubs and felt a surge of pride.

But watching Newport County AFC win promotion to the Football League at Wembley on Sunday was something else.

The nerves before the match. The almost unbearable tension during it. And the explosion of joy and tears at the end. It was all beyond anything I have ever experienced at a football match.

I think it was so different because of what it meant to people. This was a club that rose from the ashes of the old Newport County completing its 25-year journey back to the promised land.

There were people in the stadium – like me – whose first experience of live football was at Somerton Park with the old County.

There were people in the stadium – like my sons – who have only known the new County as a non-league club.

And there were people in the stadium – like David Hando – who simply refused to let their football club die.

And they all shared in a remarkable communal experience on Sunday.

This column was written before last night’s bus parade but I hope Justin Edinburgh and his team were given a true heroes’ welcome.

They have achieved what many thought was an impossible dream. Others, like the club’s president and founder Mr Hando, simply saw Sunday as mission accomplished.

The 2-0 defeat of Wrexham was the end of a 25-year journey. But it does not mark the end of the Newport County AFC story. It is simply the start of a new chapter.

The aim of regaining Football League status has been achieved.

Now the focus must be on securing County’s long-term future as a league club.

The infrastructure is in place. There is an impressive young manager backed by a supportive board of directors. There is a great venue in Rodney Parade with the potential for increased off-field revenues. And there is a squad of players that, with some strengthening here and there, is more than capable of holding its own in League Two.

The potential benefits of league status are not just for the football club.

The city as a whole will benefit from more visitors from bigger clubs who will spend their money in local pubs.

Newport’s profile as a sporting city will grow, with more television and national media exposure.

There are exciting times ahead.

The last week has been a wonderful experience for everyone connected with Newport County AFC.

But the celebrations are over. From today the focus has to be on the future and ensuring the name of Newport County never disappears from the Football League again.

Achieving that aim will require progress on the field, a mixture of prudence and ambition off it, and growing support from the people of Newport for a football club of which everyone should be proud.

The future is bright. The future is amber.