SIX die-hard Oxford United fans feared their dream of seeing their team walk out at Wembley had gone up in smoke when their car broke down on the way to the play-off final.

Sean Hermon was still 13 miles from the ground when his Seat Alhambra lost power on the A40 near Uxbridge.

The hapless crew were honked at by hundreds of drivers as they waited on the slip road.

However Mr Hermon, 42, and his passengers realised their luck was in when they came to rest just 100 yards behind an RAC repair van.

And the mates turned up to the ground in unusual style when they ended up being towed to the play-off final by the recovery vehicle.

Mr Hermon, who was travelling to the match with his 11-year-old son, Josh, and four friends, said: “I’d only made a joke about 10 minutes before that it was an older car and it could conk out – then it happened!

“It does flash through your mind that you won’t get to the game.”

Mr Hermon, of Mattock Way, Abingdon, said: “We had our Oxford United shirts on so all the drivers that went past were honking.”

Mr Hermon had to fork out about £200 to repair the car’s alternator.

He said “I’m sure if I’d stuck my thumb out and we’d needed a lift fellow fans would have pulled over for us, but it was a bit fraught for a moment.”

Neighbour and passenger Mark Rowbotham, 39, a United season-ticket holder for the past 15 years, said: “In some ways it just made the whole day even more memorable, not that you’re going to forget United winning at Wembley in a hurry.”

  • A LIFE-LONG U’s fan was denied his first taste of seeing his side at Wembley when he was rushed to hospital after suffering a severe allergic reaction to a lamb curry.

Tom Jennings was inside the stadium with his family when he suffered an anaphylactic reaction to a lamb dosa half an hour before kick-off.

The 25-year-old, from Kennington, had eaten in Wembley two hours earlier and had been assured by waiters it did not contain egg, to which he is severely allergic.

However, he started vomiting and had to be taken to Northwick Park Hospital, Harrow, by ambulance, missing the entire match.

His dad, Mike, and step-mum also missed the match to accompany him.

Mr Jennings said: “I got to Wembley and managed to see the stadium but suddenly I felt very sick.

“My nose was streaming and I couldn’t stop sneezing and my breathing slowed.

“I had to be sick and went to the toilet to be sick. My face blew up massively.”

Mr Jennings was treated by the same Wembley medics who examined Chelsea midfielder Michael Ballack after he was carried off the Wembley pitch with an ankle injury a day earlier.

He said: “The medics at the stadium were fantastic – they probably saved my life.

“I tried to get back for the second half of the game but they wouldn’t let me and kept me in for observation.”