THE weekend will see the 40th anniversary of Saints’ Wembley defeat at the hands of Leeds in what was one of the most compelling Challenge Cup Finals.

I know the date, having had my road to Damascus that afternoon and started supporting the club the following day.

It was awful timing on my part. Prior to then Saints had always seemed to be at Wembley at regular intervals.

But each subsequent year for eight long seasons saw those hopes of walking up Wembley Way to the old Twin Towers dashed.

I think each one is burnt into fans of that generation.

In 1979 Saints went all the way to the semis, but had their pockets picked by a late Wakefield try.

Saints were leading that day, but Eric Chisnall had his pass intercepted - Dave Topliss raced upfield, backed up by the classy Keith Smith and next minute Trinity wing Andrew Fletcher, who could have passed for a member of the Eagles was scampering over.

The following year Bradford Northern had dominated a second round tie at Knowsley Road and they were leading 11-0 - prompting an ealy departure of the town's boot boys whonly ever turned up to cause trouble at cup ties. A late brace from Peter Glynn could not save Saints from a one-point round two defeat.

Leaving the ground it was even more depressing to see that the aforementioned boot boys had left the travelling Bradford coaches minus a few windows.

In 1981 there was a spark of life - with narrow wins over Huddersfield, Hull and Oldham, and the cries of ‘Wem-ba-lee, Wem-ba-lee’, taking Saints all the way to Headingley. Level at half time Saints fell 22-5 at the final hurdle against Hull KR.

An opening round home loss to a slowly recovering Wigan, who had realised if you spent money on players people would watch, was followed in 1983 by a real crusher in the quarters.

Saints were hot under Billy Benyon and with two tries from Roy Haggerty, they had stormed to the quarters where they faced an unfancied Featherstone Rovers,

They had a tight game in the bag until seven minutes from time Jon Gilbert dashed up the Popular Side part of the pitch and cut into the middle for the winner, Rovers winning 11-10. Who would have thought that Featherstone would go on to win it that year - and given what happened next, who could begrudge them in hindsight.

And 1984 was another kick in the guts with Saints leading Wigan after a cracking Barrie Ledger try had given them the edge in front of a 20,000 gate not seen since the halcyon days.

All Saints had to do was tackle but a shocking piece of tactical kicking led to Wigan emerging from the mud with a passage to the semi final date with York.

Not even the arrival of Mal Meninga could help Saints in 1985, and a first round, midweek knockout ensued against Hull KR - a game played after numerous snow postponements. If we could not get there with Mal in the team, then when would we?

Big spending Wigan were just too good in 1986 - despite a Saints team in transition scoring two cracking tries from Mark Elia and Brett French.

But 1987 it finally happened. After a crawpy two-point over Swinton in round one, Saints won at Dewsbury and then defeated Wigan's conquerors Oldham in round two before beating Whitehaven in the quarters.

Leigh in the semis was an unbelievably tense encounter. Leading 14-8 at the break, the second half was scoreless but Saints were finally there at Wembley.

Of course there was another twist, with a Mark Elia lost ball, a ropey Wilf George try and a John Pendlebury drop goal breaking our hearts and sending the cup to Halifax. It would be another nine years before Saints would actually win it - the start of a run of seven successes in 12 years.

If that run from 1978-87 is ingrained in my mind, I don’t doubt supporters of a younger generation have similar bad memories from the past 10 years.

Having experienced both runs, I honestly reckon it is harder for fans itching to get their first taste of Wembley rather than those of us who have tasted it.

All I can say is hang in there. It is worth the wait!