West Auckland manager Peter Dixon is hoping his side's recent bad experience of an FA Vase final will make the difference for them against Sholing this afternoon – and make it third time lucky at Wembley for the club.

West made the journey south yesterday afternoon in preparation for the clash against the Wessex League champions, and Dixon is hoping that their last experience of Wembley in 2012, when they feebly lost 2-0 to fellow Northern League club Dunston UTS, will stand them in good stead.

“I hope that playing at Wembley two seasons ago will be an advantage for us,” said Dixon.

“Eight players in our squad have been here before – Steve Richardson with Spennymoor last season, then Andrew Green, Neil Pattinson, Jonathan Gibson, Paul Garthwaite, Mattie Moffat, Stuart Banks and Darryl Hall were all here two seasons ago. The seven lads from the last visit really want to make up for it, and Speedy (Richardson) wants to win it again, he’s got a taste for winning at Wembley.

“I will settle now for giving a good account of ourselves. We were poor in 2012, we were nowhere near our best. If we play to something like 90 or 95 per cent of what we’re capable of, then I’ll be happy and take whatever comes.

“I want fans after the game to be going back down Wembley Way saying that West Auckland are a good side. I’ll take whatever comes after that, which hopefully means lifting the Vase.”

West haven’t really fired on all cylinders since the turn of the year. “We’ve had some very good performances this season, most of them on what I would call summer pitches, for example against Skelmersdale and Whitby in the FA Cup,” explains Dixon.

“It is time now for our big-name players to come to the fore. They have all the tools and ability to win matches, as they’ve proved this season. Most of all, we are proud to be at Wembley again, and we want to bring the Vase back to the north east. The club lost in the Amateur Cup final in 1961 and to Dunston in the Vase two years ago. We want it to be third time lucky for West.”

West are hoping that the omens are in their favour. Compared to two seasons ago, they are in the other changing room, the other dugout and their fans are in the other side of the ground.

“We’re in a different hotel and trained somewhere different before the game. We’ve been to the ground to sample it yesterday, and not on the day like last time. Hopefully, we’re wiser from last time’s experience, and what we’ve learned will make a difference to us.”

West have hardly trained this week because of their heavy fixture backlog in the league. Dixon has given virtually all of his expected side a full week off, from their win at Consett ten days ago to a training session in West Auckland last Wednesday.

“Since we played in the semi finals, on two occasions we’ve played four games per week," he said. "We played on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday last week, and so we had to repair some of the muscle damage, and pamper the lads. I have had to look after the players in the last five weeks, I have played weak sides and rotated the players."