Sports blog: Taunton Town may have lost but their success means so much more
It's often the lesser-fancied non-league clubs who encapsulate the opening round of the FA Cup.
Over the last few weeks Taunton have fired our enthusiasm for the old competition and captured our hearts.
We have celebrated their first appearance in the 1st round since 1981 but, more than that, they encapsulate everything fans of football love about the sport.
A joie de vivre, a team ethos, and humility.
Theirs is a supporter-led club with volunteers and supporters at the heart of everything. And the community got right behind them in numbers with a record 2,500 in the stands to watch when Barrow came to town.
The team clearly took enormous pleasure and pride in playing in a competition which many say has lost its lustre.
They treated it with respect and revelled in the limelight.
Taunton's players are human, too, which has us rooting for them even more. They work ordinary jobs by day and strive for the extraordinary when the opportunity presents itself.
We know the gulf that now exists between the very top of the game and the lower divisions but, in the FA Cup opening round, the likes of Taunton Town get to change the narrative for a short while at least.