THERE was a sense of Warrington Town manager Shaun Reid being in his element after Friday night’s giant-killing in the FA Cup.

The joke book was out, he was lapping up the heavy media attention and of course lavishing praise on his men for the incredible achievement of knocking Exeter City out of the FA Cup and progressing to the second round.

He had earned these moments, as has everyone involved in Warrington Town for the entire cup run so far and the mighty efforts in staging such an occasion in font of the BBC cameras at little old Cantilever Park.

But Reid also made it clear that he thought his team could have played better than they did in the 1-0 success over League Two Exeter – the fourth time this season Town have knocked higher level opposition out of the most famous competition in the world.

“I’m thinking of going home and having a few glasses of Coke, getting my slippers on and having an early night,” said the 49-year-old after being asked how he planned to celebrate the victory.

“Nah, I think its a few glasses of wine and champagne. It could be the party of all parties, so don’t ring me tomorrow.”

Was he planning a trip to the Showbar in Warrington town centre?

“There’s every chance you might see me in every bar tonight,” he quipped.

“I’m going to let the lads enjoy this because this is what dreams are made of.”

Reid, a former player with Rochdale, Preston North End, York City, Bury and Chester who is in the second management position of his career following his move from Prescot Cables, rated the fourth qualifying round success over North Ferriby United as the pinnacle of his career.

Not any more.

“I said North Ferriby was the pinnacle so you know where this rates now don’t you? Even you can work that out. Right at the top, pal!”

The scenes at the end, with his players being swamped by jubilant supporters who had sang their hearts out for the team, made him feel proud of the achievement.

He added: “You go a long time in your career. I played a lot of games at the lower level and these nights are what football is about.

“They don’t come along a lot and I’ve just had two of them in a fortnight. How can I explain that to anybody?”

He was delighted that the whole town was behind the team in the build up to the tie, with the 2,500 tickets snapped up within three hours of going on sale and thousands more watching on television at home and sharing their excitement with fellow supporters on social media.

Warrington Town were even trending on Twitter during the game.

“We’ve been trying to get the town behind us for a while,” he said.

“You’ve got to get success on the field first. We hit the play-offs for the first time in our history last season and now we’ve gone and reached the second round of the FA Cup, which sounds unbelievable.

“Hopefully we can go on from here.”

Like many of his players, Reid said he had entered match day without much sleep the night before.

“I don’t sleep a lot as it is. Two hours a night does me. But last night, that two minutes led to this.

“How can you sleep? It’s the FA Cup. You can’t explain it because it’s what kids dream about and I’ve always dreamt about it.

“My brother (Peter Reid) won it and I’ve took a team that’s in the seventh tier to the second round of the FA Cup. There’s no words to describe that.”

He said the winning goal, scored in the seventh minute by Craig Robinson from a corner, was made on the training field.

“We worked on them at Finch Farm, Everton’s training ground on Wednesday. We spent about half an hour on them at the end because we felt we could get them from corners and dead-ball situations.

“We try things. Somtimes they come off, sometimes they don’t. Tonight we got a bit of luck with one and to be fair my boys showed every ounce of character.

“Hey, it wasn’t a great performance by us. We did start well. I ain’t going to let them come here and dictate to me on my own patch.

“I know what these boys have done. When they’re at home and are on the front foot, they are a different team to play against and so it proved.

“I just think our ball retention could have been better but it’s maybe being a bit harsh on the boys as they’ve just beaten a team 100 places above them, so I suppose I’ve just got to get a smile on my face and say ‘well done’.

He emphasised the philosophy, playing with guts and character.

“I like to think that’s the way I base my teams because I don’t think there’s anything wrong about a team going out there and working hard with passion, desire, throwing yourself in front of things, getting hit with the ball,” he said.

“That seems to be going out of the game but not with my lads.”