Dunston assistant manager Tony Harrison has played a major role in their road to Wembley, and here he summarises their run match by match.

Unlike West, Dunston were given an exemption to the second round proper because they reached the quarter finals last season, losing to Whitley Bay.

"We were drawn at home to Blackwell in the second round, and they really fancied their chances. The manager, Billy Irwin and I, were standing in front of the dugouts, and one of their lads next to us said that our pitch was tiny, and that he could score from the halfway line. He never got a touch of the ball, we were 7-0 up by half time and won 12-1."

Next were Parkgate, the conquerors of Dunston's Northern League colleagues Bedlington in the next round.

"That was a really difficult game for us, because Parkgate kept the ball well, and had two very good strikers. You could understand how they'd beaten Bedlington in the previous round, and we had to work hard to overcome them."

Then came a long distance trip to Wisbech in Suffolk, and it was in the Fens where Dunston nearly came unstuck.

"Billy and I went to watch Wisbech play the week before, and they were better than we expected. Overall, we were poor and we could have been losing by more than 1-0 at half time.

"We turned the game around to lead 2-1, but they equalised with five minutes left to force a replay. I wasn't really sure why we played so badly, but we included Lee McAndrew and Steven Shaw in our team soon after they had arrived back from Thailand on holiday, and they weren't properly match fit.

"We were better in the replay though at our place, and won 3-1."

Dunston were given a home draw in the last 16, at home to Bethnal Green United.

"This was possibly the easiest game for us in the run, even taking the Blackwell game into account. We'd heard that their manager was supposed to be very vocal and animated during games, but he was like a pussycat. When their players turned up, their body language was negative, and the day after the game we discovered why -- the manager had decided to take a job at another club before they played us. They also didn't arrive at their hotel until 12.30 the previous morning, so mentally they were all over the place."

Next came a tough draw away to Peterborough Northern Star from the United Counties League.

"This was a very different game to the previous round. The weather conditions were bad and the pitch was hard. Just like Wisbech, Peterborough were better than we expected and they caused us problems. We had to pull out all the stops to win that game, and it was Andy Bulford who won it for us, with a goal right at the death.

"Bully scored the goal of the run for me at Peterborough, a free kick that he curled over the wall into the top corner of the net."

Dunston avoided Northern League neighbours West Auckland, and were handed Derbyshire club Staveley in the semi final draw.

"The first leg at our place was awful. The pitch was rock hard, it was windy and the ball was all over the place. But again Bully showed what a great finisher he is, with a left foot shot across the keeper for the winner in the second half.

"We weren't sure whether that goal would be enough in the second leg, because Staveley scored after just 6 minutes. Then Bully put us ahead over the two legs, and ran into the crowd to celebrate. The problem was, that the Dunston fans -- just a small group behind the goal -- wouldn't let go of him, and instead the ref booked him for over-celebrating. Ten minutes later, he was booked again for a foul and was sent off. “Staveley scored again before half time to make it 2-2 on aggregate, but we changed things around for the second half. We made a substitution, changed the system and pushed Steve Goddard up front. He had been awful in the first leg and we'd subbed him at half time, but we kept him back for this game. He didn't let us down, he finished one and put us through.

“It was a fantastic feeling to get through to the final, but I thought that the Peterborough game was more exhausting because of the see-saw nature of the game.

"It's an unbelievable feeling to be in the final, because as a kid I used to dream of going to Wembley."

Dunston: Second round: Blackwell (h) 12-1. Bulford 3, Goddard 3, McAndrew 2, Shaw, Swailes, Cattanach, Brooking.

Third round: Parkgate (h) 3-1 . Goddard 2, Bulford.

Fourth round: Wisbech (a) 2-2. Bulford, McAndrew.

Fourth round replay; Wisbech (h) 3-1, Bulford 2, Goddard.

Fifth round: Bethnal Green (h) 3-0. Shaw 2, Bulford.

Sixth round: Peterborough NS (a) 4-3. Bulford 2, Young, Cattanach.

Semi final: First leg Staveley (h) 1-0 Bulford (a) 2-2 Bulford, Goddard