Spennymoor reached Wembley for the first time in their history with an efficient 1-0 second leg win over Guernsey at the Brewery Field, and a well-deserved 4-1 aggregate victory .

Moors ensured that the Ebac Northern League will be represented at Wembley on May 4th for the fifth successive season, and they will start the game as favourites against Tunbridge Wells after disposing of a good Guernsey side.

Ironically, before the 5.30 kick off, Moors thought that they would be facing Shildon in the final, because they had been informed erroneously – or wishful thinking as Railwaymen fans would say – that their Northern League colleagues had won their 3pm kick off by 4-0.

Moors maybe weren’t at their best in terms of the flowing football they have produced this season, but much more importantly, they were at their defensive best, with skipper Bobby Moore outstanding in the heart of the defence.

Moors boss Jason Ainsley naturally couldn’t conceal his delight at guiding the club to the new Wembley in the recent footsteps of Whitley Bay, Dunston and West Auckland.

“I’m a very proud man to be taking the club to Wembley, it’s a great achievement for everyone concerned with the club, especially Brad Groves the chairman, who has backed the club for the last four years. I feel as if I haven’t slept for the last fortnight thinking about this semi final! People have also been reminding me this week about Spennymoor losing to Leatherhead in the Trophy semi final 35 years ago, and so from that point of view, I’m also delighted.

“I thought we were slightly shaky in the first half, but in the second half we did quite well on a difficult surface. The 2-0 lead was tricky, we didn’t know what to do for the best, and for a semi final, maybe the game was a bit flat. But to beat a team as good as Guernsey over two legs is testimony to our team. This will give the club and the town a real lift, and hopefully we’ll take a few thousand fans to Wembley with us.

“I thought there were some outstanding performances right the way through the team, Bobby Moore was exceptional.”

The first half was cagey, with perhaps both teams realising the importance of the first goal, and it certainly wasn’t as open as the Shildon game earlier in the afternoon.

Mark Davison narrowly missed a couple of chances for Moors, and at the other end Josh Allen was a handful for the Moors defence, although only Matt Loring troubled Moors’ keeper Robbie Deane.

The game started to open up in the second half as Guernsey pushed forward looking for a breakthrough, but they never really looked like breaching the Moors defence.

On the other hand, the chances started to come at the other end. Gavin Cogdon, so often Moors’ goalscoring hero, headed at Chris Tardif in the visiting goal, and then minutes later, he broke clear of the visiting defence but the keeper did well to block his shot.

The nerves of the Moors’ fans were already frayed at this stage, and they were at breaking point on 70 minutes when Cogdon broke through again, and unusually for him miskicked with the goal at his mercy, but the ball ran square for Andrew Stephenson, who somehow managed to sidefoot wide of an open goal, although to be fair, the ball may have bobbled.

But the Brewery Field bobble was forgotten about on 76 minutes. Stephenson, who scored in the first leg at Footes Lane, burst through on the left hand side and found himself with just Tardif to beat, and this time he composed himself well and squeezed the ball in between the advancing keeper and the left hand post.

Similar to Shildon’s third goal earlier in the afternoon, the ground erupted and there were thoughts of Wembley. This time, those hopes were well-founded, and there was no way that Moors were going to concede one goal, let alone three, and go to extra time.

Moors could have scored more with Steve Richardson, the hero of the first leg, going close and Tardif saving from Davison.

But for the last ten minutes, there was a sense of joyful inevitability around the ground, and the final whistle was greeted by a pitch invasion.

“Credit to Andrew Stephenson, I thought he took his goal really well, especially after he missed the chance a few minutes earlier. It was a more difficult chance then the one he missed,” said Ainsley.

“We know it will be a tough game at Wembley – Tunbridge Wells must be a good team if they’ve beaten Shildon. All our lads deserve credit for getting to Wembley, they’ve been at the club for a long, long time. Over the two legs, we deserve to go through. I don’t think we’ve realised our potential in the Vase until now.”

Skipper Bobby Moore said: “We knew it wasn’t going to be an easy game, but we were always confident in our own ability.”

Moors’ victory rounded off a great day for local non league fans, some of whom managed to see a large part of both semis because of the staggered kick offs. And this morning, it will be the fans of Spennymoor planning their trip to the Wembley Arch on May 4th, while Shildon fans will be lamenting “If only Billy’s header had gone in.”