THE dream is over for another year and, who knows, maybe another 38 years?

It was always a long shot that we’d make it to the FA Cup semi-finals and Chelsea away proved to be one tough fixture too many.

The players gave it their best shot and in defeat we can be proud of what they achieved.

Even in a year when Manchester United and Liverpool were knocked out in the early stages we still, somehow, managed to pull three top teams out of the hat.

If you can forgive a little bit of a self-pitying whine here, I can’t believe that we managed to get Arsenal, Manchester City and then Chelsea in successive ties.

I mean, come on, those three games probably represent a much tougher challenge than the England national team are going to face in their World Cup group.

There was no shame in losing to Chelsea.

They are an extremely tough outfit, good on the ball and physically imposing.

They don’t let anyone push them around. In many ways, they are the team Tony Pulis would dearly love to build at Stoke.

Our team played to the very end and our supporters were unbowed and vocal in their support.

Not that we doubted for one minute that we wouldn’t effortlessly drown out any attempt from the home support to make the most noise.

It’s almost an unfair fight when it’s genuine supporters against customers.

It’s unlikely that Chelsea skipper John Terry will be looking forward to our next visit to Stamford Bridge.

He may have thought he’d received a rough ride at Wembley a few nights earlier, when the England fans let him know what they thought of his off-field behaviour, but nothing could have prepared him for the sustained volleys of abuse unleashed by a merciless Stoke support.

Even the national media were moved to comment on it. And while many may think it went too far, I thought it came pretty close to working in the way it was intended to.

Terry just about managed to hang on to his composure and self-control, but if we had managed to take the lead, when we enjoyed our good opening spell, who knows what might have happened?

With the cup adventure at an end and dreams of Wembley Stadium well and truly over, it’s time to turn our attention to the far more important matter of tidying up our unfinished business this season.

We are probably just five or six points shy of being able to put this season to bed and looking forward to a third term in the Premier League.

It is not beyond the bounds of possibility that we could even have our safety secured before March is out.

After the Burnley match we have home games against Aston Villa and Tottenham, and then our third claret and blue opponents in a very short space of time when we go to West Ham.

The only things we really have to guard against now are tiredness and complacency.

The one thing that has typified this Stoke side over the past three years or so has been its willingness to fight for every ball, in every game and to keep on going right until the final whistle.

We have set our own standards and it’s up to everyone to do their best to maintain them, even when we are clearly so close to completing the job of surviving. we set out to do way back in August.

We know we’re not the prettiest team in the Premier League, but show me one with more spirit and commitment to the cause.

It is the rock and solid foundation on which our success in this mini golden age has been established.

Finally, a big well done to the club for keeping season-ticket prices in check for yet another season.

The good news has been coming thick and fast in the past few years at the Britannia Stadium and supporters will again appreciate not having to dig ever deeper into their pockets.

The one downside (perhaps the only one) to life in the Premier League are the prices we encounter in trying to follow the team, especially when times are as hard as they have been for so many supporters.

It used to be the standard of football that brought a tear to my eye, now it’s the price of actually watching a game.

The club should know that their efforts are appreciated and hopefully this will be reflected in seeing the Britannia packed to the rafters for a third top-flight season.

They don’t always get it spot on, (not taking our full allocation of tickets for the Chelsea match being a case in point) but the few things we can moan about are overwhelmed and overshadowed by the avalanche of good things the club have been getting right.