Wembley engineer Jay Lovell swaps escalators for FA Vase final duty

Jay Lovell was due to be on the job at Wembley Stadium connected by EE, modernising the escalators inside the ground. Instead, the Cockfosters defender will be back under the arch on Sunday 17 May 2026 as a player, not a contractor, for the club’s first-ever appearance in the Isuzu FA Vase final.

That switch captures the sharpest edge of non-league football: ambition built around ordinary work. Lovell picked up his Wembley engineering contract last year and even worked the FA Vase final there in 2025. After Cockfosters beat Punjab United in the semi-finals, he rang his manager straight away to say he would not be available for work because he would be playing in the final.

Cockfosters reached Wembley by beating Punjab United 3-1 on aggregate. The first leg at Cockfosters’ ground finished 1-1, and Lovell captained the side in both legs because regular skipper Matty Thomson had been injured for much of the season. For a club founded in 1921, the Wembley trip is a rare national stage and a reward for years spent outside the elite professional system.

The final itself will open Non-League Finals Day and kick off at 12.30pm, with the FA Trophy final to follow later in the day. AFC Stoneham, who beat Hallen 6-1 on aggregate, will also be making their first Wembley appearance. The FA says the entire day will be broadcast exclusively live on TNT Sports.

Lovell’s dual life gives the occasion extra bite. One week he was helping prepare the stadium’s infrastructure; this week he will try to help decide a cup final in the same building. The contrast is stark even by non-league standards, where careers are pieced together around training, travel and wages that rarely match the hours put in.

In that setting, Cockfosters have emerged as more than a feel-good story. Lovell has called the club a “sleeping giant”, and he has pointed to a growing base of younger supporters, including a new group of ‘Ultras’, as momentum has built toward Wembley. Club chairman Vas Chiotis has also spoken with pride about the staff and volunteers behind the run. For Cockfosters, the final is not just a day out in London. It is proof that a club from Enfield can still turn years of patient work into a place on football’s biggest lower-league stage.