THE Lugsden brothers – centre-half Kelvin, who played for Glossop North End in the 2009 final, and ace goalscorer Kieran – will become the first set of identical twins to appear in the final of an FA competition on Saturday (May 9) when the North West Counties champions face North Shields, and only the third set of twins ever to play at Wembley. NLP editor STUART HAMMONDS sat down with the 29-year-olds at the national stadium to look ahead to the big day…
NLP: You're about to make history. Will the Lugsden family be out in force?
Kelvin: Yeah, my dad Leslie will be so proud. He watched me in 2009 on my own when we lost to Whitley Bay, but to have both of your lads playing in the same team together is something else.
Kieran: Our mum Gwendolen didn't come to the 2009 one, but they'll both be here this time.
Kelvin: She was watching my lad, Blake, because he was only four days old at the time. He'll be walking out with me as a mascot this time.
Kieran: There's five of us altogether – us two and three older sisters. Melanie is 40 this year, and she won't be here as she suffers from rheumatoid arthritis and is in a wheelchair most of the time, but Michaela, who's 35, and Nicole, who's a year older than us, will be here.
Kelvin: When we got here last time we were a bit startled by it. We were just happy to get here. Six years later, we've matured and we're coming to win it.
Kieran: I was in the stand watching last time, gutted that I wasn't on the pitch. I wasn't jealous in any way. I was just happy that they got here and happy to be watching my brother play at Wembley.
NLP: You were playing at a higher level for Buxton at the time, weren't you?
Kieran: I've always played a couple of divisions higher, but Kelvin could always say, ‘Yeah, but you haven't played at Wembley though, have you?' I'm happy I'll be able to say I've played here because it's an unbelievable stadium.
NLP: Had you ever played together before this season?
Kieran: We were at Manchester City as schoolboys, but we went to join Altrincham's youth team. We both broke into the first team and Kelvin had a few appearances, but then he got a bit fed up with it and left. I stuck it out. I was there from when they were in the UniBond right up to the Conference under Graham Heathcote.
I wasn't playing as much as I'd have liked to, so I left for Witton Albion and had a couple of seasons there, then went to Buxton and had five great years there, but I wasn't playing a lot last year and the gaffer here, Chris Willcock, gave me a lifeline. He just said ‘Come to Glossop and enjoy your football, get a good pre-season behind you and we'll go places'. I played centre-forward before, but this year I've played central midfield and still got 26 goals, so it's been a good season with the lads. We've got a group text going throughout the year and there must be 100 texts per day on there for all the banter with the lads. It's great.
NLP: Kelvin, what kind of a role did you play in getting Kieran to the club?
Kelvin: I would say that I was the reason why he came, really. I gave him a phone call and said ‘You're not playing much at Buxton, why don't you come to Glossop?' If I hadn't been here, I don't think he would have come. But only he can answer that.
Kieran: He was a massive part of me coming. At the start of the season I thought we'd do well, but the FA Vase? We weren't taking it really seriously, like we could win it. We've just cracked on with it, the lads have done great, and for every game in the FA Vase, everyone's been at it.
NLP: Overnight trips like the semi-final at St Austell must be where the team spirit is built?
Kelvin: We stayed up at Dunston this year as well, and then went out on a night out in Cornwall after the semi first leg. The bond between the lads is brilliant. There are all different characters and we bounce off each other. Obviously some people get a bit upset sometimes – but they all take it the right way.
Kieran: The St Austell boys flew up to us, so they probably only had an hour on the plane together. We had a ten-hour journey down and we grew as a team that day because as soon as the whistle blew, everyone was at it and we should have scored seven down there. We were disappointed to only win 2-0.
Kelvin: I said before the second leg, ‘Make sure we don't get anyone sent off, or give them a carrot'. Then we get a man sent off five minutes in! Then it really makes a game of it, but with the defence we've got I always believe in us because we don't concede many.
The back four is prolific in the sense of keeping clean sheets, and it doesn't just come from one player, it's right through the team. We trust in each other's ability and we help each other out at every opportunity.
NLP: Who's behind the fake twitter account then that is in your name, Kelvin?
Kelvin: Ben Richardson – one of the lads you might not have seen play much this year! Last season there was @notkelvinlugsden, which was a spoof by a fan. This season the lads have taken it to a new level and created @Kelvin_Lugsden. I think I'm the most hated man in Non-League football due to it, and people have been upset by what's been said. It's all fun and games, but one day it might come back to haunt me.
NLP: You – or Ben – have been winding up your former manager Paul Colgan, and then St Austell after the red card was overturned…
Kelvin: They got Matt Russell sent off that day and we just gave them a tweet saying it got rescinded and their 11 should have maybe put in a few more rolls. We got a few tweets back and just had a laugh with it.
Kieran: The St Austell fans left their horn behind at our place so we've been taking it to every ground since, tweeting pictures of it to them. The gaffer knows what's been going on all season and he's been telling us ‘You better all do the business because if you don't, this is going to come to bite you on the backside'. We've done the business.
NLP: Did anybody actually come forward and offer you the new boots, spray tan, hair cut and pedicure the account asked for?
Kelvin: Yeah…I'm going to a beauty salon on Thursday. I'll get all spruced up with a few sunbed sessions so I look the part as we go up the Royal Box – hopefully to lift the trophy this time!
This article was published in The Non-League Paper, May 3
