Wigan Athletic were looking to make it a Wembley double for the Greater Manchester town when the Latics made it to the 1985 EFL Trophy Final – the first of the competition’s showpieces to be staged at Wembley Stadium.

Wigan’s rugby league team, Wigan Warriors, had beaten Hull in the Challenge Cup Final at the iconic national stadium less than a month prior, before the Latics booked their place in the Freight Rover Trophy Final.

Wigan, managed by Bryan Hamilton at the time, went head-to-head with Third Division side Brentford for a chance to get their hands on some silverware, with the competition – which was founded in 1981 – still very much in its infancy.

In previous years, the showpiece had been held at Grimsby Town’s Blundell Park in its inaugural year in 1982 – when the Final was staged at one of the Finalists’ home grounds – followed by Lincoln City’s Sincil Bank.

However, in 1984, the Final was set to be held at the home of English football for the first time but was later moved to Boothferry Park, the home of that year’s runners-up Hull City, due to damage to the Wembley pitch during the Horse of the Year Show.

Eventually, Wembley Stadium did see its first EFL Trophy Final and, to mark the special occasion, a famous guest was on hand to present the trophy – none other than musical legend and Watford chairman Elton John.

It was a day of firsts for the competition, with the game marking the first time a Wembley Final was transmitted for British cable television, with former sports television network Screensport carrying the fixture to an estimated audience of around 140,000.

A charity football match also took place beforehand in aid of Bradford City disaster appeal fund, after 56 spectators lost their lives in the fire at Valley Parade in May 1985.

There were some familiar faces in the starting line-ups for both sides, with a young Chris Kamara getting the nod for Brentford on the day.

Wigan’s only previous visit to the famous twin towers had come in their non-league days back in 1973 for the FA Challenge Trophy Final when they were beaten by Scarborough, while the Bees’ only trip to Wembley had come in the ‘unofficial’ London War Time Cup in 1942 when they prevailed against Portsmouth.

And it was Hamilton’s men who took the lead in the first half after joint top scorer Mike Newell capitalised on a defensive error to fire Wigan into the lead with less than half-an-hour on the watch and put them 1-0 up heading into the break.

Following the interval, Latics midfielder Tony Kelly doubled Wigan’s advantage after linking up well with teammate Graham Barrow, whose neat back-heel flick set up Kelly to make it 2-0.

The Bees pulled a goal back to half the deficit with 52 minutes played but the Latics restored the advantage just minutes later through David Lowe to seal a 3-1 victory and win the EFL Trophy.