WATCH out Wembley, wonderful West are on their way – and they will be dressed for the occasion.

Since West Auckland Town’s semi-final triumph over Herne Bay last month, all the talk of the town has been about their impending visit to Wembley.

More than 2,200 tickets have been bought – not including those sold online or by Dunston – souvenir scarves and shirts sold and buses booked as fans, ranging from childhood to pension age have been counting the days until their visit to the national stadium.

At 6.30am tomorrow, hundreds of bleary-eyed fans will gather outside West Auckland Workingmen’s Club, current home to the Sir Thomas Lipton trophy – or rather a replica of the first World Cup, won by West in As West Auckland Town prepare for their FA Vase final against fellow North-Easterners Dunston UTS tomorrow, Duncan Leatherdale looks forward to Wembley 1909 and 1911 after the original was stolen – before boarding coaches to make the 255-mile journey to the Capital.

And at the head of the convoy of jubilant fans will be the ones they are going to watch – West Auckland Town’s players.

Thanks to a donation from local scrap merchant International Waste Metals, 43 players and staff will be dressed the part in cup final suits, before changing into new cup final strips, each jersey sporting the name of one of those trying to turn himself into a cup hero.

Stuart Alderson, West’s general manager, said the suits have given them an extra sharpness.

He said: “We feel like professionals; we are all in this together as we have been from the beginning, and we will walk into Wembley looking the part.

“The players are really on a high – they are going to play a cup final at Wembley, something they have never done and may never do again. But we are going to try and win – we haven’t come all this way for a jolly ride out.”

About 20 miles farther up the A1(M), a similar procession will leave Gateshead carrying the Dunston UTS team and fans, West Auckland’s rivals in the Northern League.

Having two teams who are near-neighbours travelling to the other end of the country to play each other seems a bit of a nonsense, but fans wouldn’t have it any other way.

Northern League chairman Mike Amos said: “While St James’ Park and the Stadium Of Light are great stadiums, they could never match the joy of playing at Wembley, which these players have fought so hard for.”

On the West buses will be surviving members of the club’s last trip to Wembley, the 1961 FA Amateur Cup Final in which 50,000 fans watched Town lose 2-1 to Walthamstow Avenue.

Once those buses have left, Sunday peace will return to West Auckland.

Come tomorrow night, the thousands in the travelling throng will be hoping to cry: “Watch out West, the Wembley winners are on their way.” And what state will the suits be in?