In the biggest upset in the GNL Cup's short history the winners of last year's competition, Edinburgh Hotscots, were knocked out at home in the first round by an understrength, scrapped together Birmingham Blaze. Making the long trip north with only 11 players, three of whom were making their first ever competitive start for the club, Blaze knew that not only were the odds stacked against them but that they would do well to keep the score low. What eventually happened was one of those wonderful stories only sport can throw up, so fantastic that in another realm it would be dismissed as unbelievable, a series of seeming miracles which almost made it seem destined that Blaze would progress into the next round.

Miracle number 1: 20 minutes into the first half, Blaze were counter-attacking down the left wing when Chris Horne sends a cross in to the box where waiting for an opportunity to shoot was James Hollyoak, who had never scored in 4 years of playing GFSN football for firstly the Leicester Wildecats and now Blaze. Hollyoak chose now to unleash an overhead kick which arrowed into the corner of the net. 1-0 to Blaze.

Miracle number 2: In the final minutes of the first half the score was now 1-1 and the Hotscots were enjoying their best period of the match. Antony Gould rushed out of goal to close down the attacking striker who squared the ball to Hotscots' Captain Paul Fleming who had an open goal to slot the ball into, but the usually unflappable midfielder somehow mis-controlled and allowed the tireless Blaze defence to clear the ball.

Miracle number 3: Halfway through the second half and Blaze are now 2-1 down but again attacking down the left wing was Horne running with the ball. Once again he sees Hollyoak waiting inside the box and sends a high looping cross in for him to attack. The cross however, thanks to a very timely gust of wind, plants itself into the corner of the net and Blaze had pulled themselves level.

Miracle number 4: In the last minute of extra-time the Blaze goal was under constant pressure and the heroics of Gould kept Blaze in it which included a jaw-dropping double save, one of which was going back across the way he was moving.

All of which meant that the game came down to the lottery of a Penalty shoot out. The mood in the Blaze camp was jubilant already, they had already blown all expectations of how they'd performed out of the water, anything from this point was going to be a bonus.

Having lost the coin toss it was up to Captain John-Paul Kesseler to get Blaze off to a good start by equalising after Hotscots had scored the first penalty, which he duly did, slotting the ball into the bottom left corner. Hotscots again scored from the spot but Gould hit his penalty straight at the keeper who saved his shot. Two penalties taken each and Blaze were down 2-1.

A coolly taken Hotscots' penalty piled on the pressure for Horne to score his spot kick but he confidently stepped up to take the next for Blaze and unleashed an unstoppable shot which crashed against the crossbar and into the back of the net. Three penalties each taken and Blaze were down 3-2. Time was running out, but one last miracle was in the pipeline.

Miracle number 5: Stu Sutherland, who had an immense game for the Hotscots, stepped up to take his penalty and took what was easily the best penalty of all taken in the shoot out; well struck and heading for the top left corner. It was however with this penalty that Gould showed why he's seen as such an incredible shot stopper, flying to his right to powerfully turn the ball round the post.

Blaze exploded at this save and Tom Hogan, taking his first ever penalty, equalised for Blaze despite hitting it too close to the keeper for comfort and the score was 3-3 with four penalties taken each. It was now virtual sudden death.

Craig Anderson walked up to the spot for the Hotscots' final penalty and despite having calmly lobbing Gould to make it 1-1 in the first half he fluffed his kick sending it wide of the left post. All of this meant it fell on the shoulders of Manager, Ian Thomas, to blast the ball into the back of the net, wining the game for Blaze, causing the entire team, despite all their aches and pains, to sprint towards him and into frenzied celebration.

As the celebrations died down it dawned on the team just what they had achieved and it is not hyperbole to state that it is the most impressive result Blaze have ever had. While luck was undoubtedly on our side, what really won this game was the unwavering commitment to the game and more importantly each other that every single player gave that day. Five separate players came down with cramp during the match - Rob Cummings being hit in the first half - but nobody, even for a second, thought about leaving the pitch for a rest. With no subs they all knew how important it was to stay on the pitch and give all they could. Paul Dutton - who had his best game for the club so far - could hardly walk come the end of 90 minutes and yet refused to let the Hotscots' targeting of his side come to any kind of fruition. Craig Townsend left the match with a decent sized black eye after an errant hand caught his face, but this didn't stop him from getting involved again. Chris Horne was isolated up front but didn't complain once, seemingly running all of the match he tracked back constantly, never shirked a tackle, chased down everything and never gave up. Ben Moutter again excelled in defence, Gould had his best game yet, Cummings refused to let himself be beaten without a real fight. Hemblade was calm and collected passing the ball around with real skill, the perfect partner in centre midfield for Kesseler who was doing the dirty work, breaking up play. Hogan once again showed why he has made the left back spot his own, Hollyoak played marvelously in an unfamiliar role and Thomas swept up time after time.

Put simply, it was perhaps the ultimate team performance. The strengths and weaknesses of the squad were well known to each other and so they were able to help each other where needed and knew where to attack and heighten their chances.

The draw for the next round meant that each team knew before the start of the game that the winner would be facing the Titans in the next round, away in London, and this draw means that Blaze have the opportunity to gain revenge for the disputed cup exit to the Titans in the first round of the inaugural year of the cup (the infamous Yellow Titans Line) but it's going to take something extra special to top this showing.

The song is wrong, the Blaze do not go marching one by one, they go marching arm-in-arm. Limping, outnumbered and bodies aching perhaps, but together as one.