The sun shone on the old Somerset mining village, highlighting the autumn colours in the trees lining two sides of the ground, as Paulton's collection of a mortgage adviser, car mechanic, plasterer and the rest warmed up for the biggest game in their club's 128-year history.
And if the romance of the FA Cup was swept away by the reality that five divisions separated the teams, there were still plenty of bouquets for home manager Andy Jones, whose florist business employs three of his players.
More importantly from Jones' perspective, Paulton banked the best part of £100,000 from their big day, largely because of live television coverage. "I hope the club invests the money in something like an Astroturf training surface, which we can lease out and earn ourselves more money," he said.
As a contest, the match lasted 24 minutes, the time it took for Grant Holt to head Norwich in front and Chris Martin to double the advantage. Holt headed a third just before half-time and from then on Paulton's mission was to keep the score down.
Rovers' lack of full-time training told as Hoolahan made it 4-0. Martin added three more goals to his tally in the closing stages to claim the match ball.
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Star man: Chris Martin (Norwich) Yellow cards: Paulton: Jeffries, Plummer Norwich: Lappin, Holt
Referee: A Hall Attendance: 2,070
PAULTON ROVERS: Phillips 7, Ball 6, Price 6, Tyrrell 6, Rich 7, Lacey 7, Cleverley 5 (Waters 38min, 6), Jefferies 6, Lane 6 (Cousins 55min, 6), Plummer 5 (Burborough 74min), Claridge 7
NORWICH CITY: Rudd 7, Berthel Askou 6, Nelson 7, Doherty 7, Drury 6 (Wiggins 56min, 6), Smith 7, Russell 7, Hoolahan 8, Lappin 7 (Tudur Jones 68min), Martin 9, Holt 8 (McDonald 68min)