The smart Alec who helped save his team – and his club

FA Cup semi-finals: Watford indebted to evergreen keeper's hands and head as Warnock salutes his unlikely No 1

When Watford reached the 1984 Cup final, Alec Chamberlain was already an established professional footballer, keeping goal for Colchester United. The fact that, as Everton were beating Watford 2-0 that day, Chamberlain was actually playing club cricket should not be held against him. "At that time," he smiles, "Cup finals weren't such a priority on my list."

After all, how was Chamberlain to know that, 19 years on, at the age of 38, he would be crucially involved in trying to propel Watford into another final? As he faces Southampton in this afternoon's semi-final, Alec is, by some distance, the only player on either side to span two decades, one of those goalkeepers whose excellence is enduring. Not a goal has been conceded in the Cup run as Watford saw off Macclesfield, West Brom, Sunderland and Burnley. According to his manager, Ray Lewington, "Alec has never looked like letting one in". Just one more clean sheet at Villa Park this afternoon could complete the fairytale for a club whose players and staff accepted a 12 per cent wage cut last September to keep Watford out of administration and away from possible closure.

As the PFA representative for his team-mates, Chamberlain was heavily involved in those dramatic days, too. The players unanimously agreed to slashed salaries at a crucial meeting which, claims Lewington, "saved the club" and he pays Chamberlain tribute for his part in that, as well as the subsequent Cup successes. "He is just a very sensible man, vastly experienced, level-headed. He was the voice of reason when we needed one."

Chamberlain, since starting with Ipswich in 1981, has been that sort of dependable bloke for Colchester, Everton, Luton, Sunderland and, since 1996, Watford, with loan spells at Tranmere, Chelsea and Liverpool also on the CV.

His appearances total, he estimates, just under 750, but he didn't want to spend too much time contemplating that during our chat at Watford's training ground. "It's nice to clock up the games, an achievement, but I just want to keep going. At this stage of my career it is about keeping fit and playing as many games as you can." And does he sometimes need to pinch himself? "Definitely. When I think back to my Colchester days it was a case of 'Am I going to make a living out of the game?' Now here I am, 22 years later, about to play in a semi-final of the FA Cup. It's truly amazing stuff."

He has also been fortunate in the matter of injuries. He broke a wrist during training in his first professional year at Ipswich, since when there has been only a dislocated finger on the eve of Watford's ascent to the Premiership in 1999. This season he has missed just two games, withdrawn by Lewington before the Burnley quarter-final and again last Tuesday at Crystal Palace to ensure full fitness for bigger occasions.

It was another injury, to someone else, which decided the direction of Chamberlain's life. At junior school he played either central midfield, centre-half or in goal for the Huntingdon county squad. "At the senior school there was more competition and there was another keeper they picked in front of me, so I played out on the pitch. Unfortunately for that lad, he broke his leg quite badly and that's when I went back in goal. The rest is history. Had he not broken his leg, none of this might have happened."

Chamberlain shares his manager's conviction that Watford's team spirit has been a crucial factor this season, a spirit forged during those difficult wage-cut days last autumn. He insists on involving team-mates for the clean-sheet Cup performances. "That sort of thing is not just about the goalkeeper, or even the defence. It's about team ethos, really. At Macclesfield back in the third round and at Sunderland we played really well and defended solidly." Even when, a week ago, Chamberlain let in four goals in a League game at Burnley, the rest of the team rallied well enough to score seven.

While agreeing that being one match away from the Cup final is an exciting prospect, Chamberlain acknowledges the next step will be the hardest. "That is because of the occasion itself," he said. "It is how both sets of players deal with that, as much as the actual football. But we have some experience, people who have played in semi-finals, like Marcus Gayle, Neil Ardley and Sean Dyche, so hopefully they will help the others."

Chamberlain's own Cup record over those two decades has been far from memorable. "Until this year, every season I have played at Watford I think we have been knocked out in the third round. I once got through to the fifth round with Sunderland, but at Colchester and Luton you did well if you got as far as the third round. But last season we got to the Worthington quarters, so the last couple of years we have had good cup runs here."

The prospect of facing the Premiership's leading scorer, James Beattie, does not worry someone who has survived the likes of Kenny Dalglish, Ian Rush, John Aldridge, Michael Owen and Alan Shearer heading at pace in his direction. But Chamberlain says "the unknown factor" could induce nervousness. "I have never played in a semi-final, but when you get out there and the build-up is finished, you hope everything else falls into place and you can get on with your job. That's the way I normally approach it."

That is the way Chamberlain hopes to be approaching it for some time to come. Despite all the uncertainty at Watford, he has already signed another one-year contract. And, should he make it to the Cup final, this time club cricket will definitely come second.