Kevin Gallen urged a young Dean Lewington to queue-jump at Wembley

A lot has happened in the career of Dean Lewington and MK Dons since they lifted the Johnstone's Paint Trophy back in 2008.

Then, just as he is still now, Lewington was Dons' longest-serving player, a stalwart at left-back and very little has changed in that respect since! But three promotions, three relegations and seven managers later, lifting the Trophy after Keith Andrews at Wembley is a distant memory for the Dons captain. But he almost missed out on the photo opportunity altogether.

Lewington explained: "I was near the back when we started walking up there, and my room-mate Kevin Gallen got a group of us together and told us we should get to the front because these sorts of moments don't come along often. So he got me and Alan Navarro towards the front, we'd played in most of the games that season to help us get there."

In anticipation of the final on Sunday March 30, 2008, Dons travelled earlier than usual - on Thursday evening - to stay nearby. Living in close proximity with the rest of the team, Lewington said the players were shown around Wembley Stadium on Saturday - a day earlier than their opponents Grimsby Town. And that, he felt, helped Dons overcome the magnitude of the occasion as they were used to their surroundings come kick-off.

"Incey took us to Wembley on the Saturday so we could get used to it, take our pictures at the stadium and things like that," he said. "I think that really helped because by the time the game came on Sunday, we had done all of that.

"We saw the Grimsby lads arrive and they were doing all of that before the game, and were still in awe of the place – and it is an amazing place to play – but we were used to it by then."

But it could have been a different story when Willy Gueret upended Paul Bolland early on, giving Grimsby a penalty. Gueret made amends though, saving the spot-kick.

Lewington said: "My first thought was 'oh no, what's he doing there?!' because he was going nowhere! But Willy had a pretty decent record when it came to penalties that season, so it was a huge relief when he saved it."

Lewington himself could and should have given Dons the lead with a first-half header, picked out by Alan Navarro from the edge of the box, but saw his effort brilliantly saved by keeper Phil Barnes, who had a stunner in the Grimsby net.

"I had a decent chance – I don't know what I was doing so far forward," Lewington continued. "I thought I was probably offside! But the keeper has made a decent save, but I should have scored really.

"In the second half, they had burned themselves out trying to get near us in the first half. So when we got the second goal, I never really felt it was in doubt. We had Sean and Swaz at the back who would head brick walls, and our defence did not let in a lot of goals that year, so it was a comfortable end."