Glenn Skivington had the honour of leading Barrow AFC up the steps to the Royal Box at Wembley to collect the FA Trophy in 1990 from England’s 1966 World Cup-winning captain Bobby Moore.

Skivington was a defensive stalwart across his two spells at Holker Street, making 416 appearances for his hometown club across 11 seasons. Given the service AFC’s skipper had given to the Bluebirds, he was fully deserving of facing illustrious opponents for his testimonial match.

Back in March 23 1994, they didn’t come much more illustrious in British football than Glasgow giants Rangers, who at the time had won the last five Scottish Premier Division titles (they’d eventually equal the record of nine in a row).

While the match was in honour of Skivington, it also represented a homecoming for his former schoolmate, Gers defender Gary Stevens, who won 46 England caps and played in two World Cups.

Stevens was unquestionably the biggest name that made his way south of the border, with his fellow internationals Duncan Ferguson and Ian Durrant sadly missing out because of injury.

Some old favourites were making their way back to Holker Street, though, with some of Skivington’s colleagues from that famous FA Trophy final victory against Leek Town returning, including Kenny Lowe and Neil Doherty.

What would have been unfamiliar, however, was the sheer amount of away fans that had made the trip to Barrow – anything over 100 from the visitors in the National League is seen as a ‘horde’ these days.

Over 1,000 Rangers fans turned up for the game, doing their best to drink the town dry before it, and their presence was partly responsible for the kick-off being delayed by ten minutes.

As well as Stevens, who was captain, the visitors fielded Ally Maxwell in goal, who had been filling in for the injured Andy Goram all season, and a young Steven Pressley, who went on to win over 30 caps with Scotland.

An estimated crowd of 3,500 roared the two teams on to the pitch and saw Barrow match Rangers during the first half, which remained goalless, with Gary Messenger a rock at the heart of the home defence.

However, the visitors turned on the style after half-time and took the lead within seconds of the restart when Brian McGinty burst down the right before putting in a low cross that was converted by Paul Patterson from close range.

AFC, managed by Mike Cloudsdale, almost drew level when Lowe exchanged passes with Doherty before unleashing a 25-yard strike that was beaten away by Maxwell.

On the hour, an even better strike from Steve Watson doubled Rangers’ lead, as his left-footed drive from 30 yards beat Bluebirds goalkeeper Darren Hoyland for pace.

A minute later, it was 3-0, as McGinty once again supplied Patterson, who moved the ball into space before stroking his shot low into the net from inside the area.

Skivington, who played his final game for the club against Colwyn Bay in October that year, came off after 72 minutes to rapturous applause.

After the game, he said: “Rangers did me proud. Their support came along, firstly to see their team more than anything else, secondly for a day out over the border and my testimonial was probably third on their list, but the Barrow fans came out to support me and for that I am extremely thankful.”

His old friend Stevens added: “There are only really the likes of Manchester United and Rangers who can provide support like we had tonight. It was a nice atmosphere, there were a couple of good goals and I think the fans have gone away happy.”

The celebratory mood didn’t last long, however, as AFC chief executive Max Rattray resigned the following day, with the club £90,000 in debt.