JIM Rushe admitted he had to pinch himself to make sure Northwich Victoria really had dumped League One promotion hopefuls Charlton Athletic out of the FA Cup.

Vics owner told the Guardian that Wayne Riley’s late winner had given the victors their very own ‘Roy of the Rovers’ moment.

“It’s what dreams are made of,” he said.

“A young kid comes off the bench after going to the local college down the road and he knocks in the winning goal. It’s crazy.”

“Andy [Preece] has been saying all week that there is a surprise in every round and why can’t that be Northwich Victoria this time.

“I watched the boxing [David Haye’s fight with Nikolay Valuev] last night [Saturday] with our assistant manager Andy Morrison and he was ultra-confident that we had done enough with our preparations to be able to win the game.”

And so it proved.

Riley, 20, who left the town’s Mid-Cheshire College last year, kept his cool to be the man to finally beat inspired Charlton keeper Darren Randolph.

Before that the Addicks’ custodian had been brilliant to deny Mat Bailey and Michael Connor before the break.

He was beaten soon after Riley’s goal, but Sam Sodje again thwarted Bailey by clearing off the goalline.

“To be honest I thought perhaps our time would be up in this round,” added Rushe.

“Some people were tipping us to beat Charlton but I wasn’t feeling that because I felt we’d exceeded expectations to get this far.

“I’ve been proved wrong.

“The lads have done a fantastic job and I can only praise them for that.”

Asked what he felt about Vics being paired with League Two Lincoln City in the second round, Rushe wore a huge grin.

He said: “I don’t know how far we can go.

“For me the teams has done more in the FA Cup this season than I would have asked them before a ball was kicked. Now they probably feel they can beat anybody.

“It really is unbelievable. I can’t get my head around it.”

The Imps visit the Victoria Stadium on Saturday, November 28, kick off 3pm.