West Auckland assistant manager Paul Foster takes us through West’s run, all the way from the very first qualifying round way back in September.

West started with a 3-1 home win over Cleator Moor from the Wearside League, although they didn’t open the scoring until the 43rd minute through Stuart Banks.

“At that point of the competition, we were more bothered about getting through the regionalised rounds, and into the draw against a team from outside our area. It was a comfortable win, and no scares.”

People started to take notice of West when they won 6-2 at Marske United, who had built a good reputation with two good Vase runs, one of them to the quarter final two years previously.

“Potentially, Marske were a real banana skin, but we played really well, and the game was over by half time. When we got to 4-1, we took our foot off the pedal.”

That game set up a tasty local derby in the first round proper at Dean Street against Shildon, who had reached the quarter finals in 2009-10.

West won 3-2 in extra time, but the goal that put them 2-1 up came courtesy of a handball by Micky Rae that the referee missed in the process of scoring.

“In every run, you need a little bit of luck, and that’s what we got with that goal. The ref was in a good position to see it, just like his assistant, but they never gave it and the goal stood.

“Alex Francis scored the winner late in extra time, but then Shildon went up the other end, and hit the bar twice in the last minute. It could so easily have been curtains for us.”

That victory put West into the more geographically open second round, and a home game against Bacup Borough, going well in the North West Counties league at the time.

“Bacup fancied their chances big time, with a former Manchester City player in charge. The game hinged on two sendings off. We were a goal up when Neil Pattinson was red carded, and they had a man dismissed soon after. But we coped better with ten than they did, and Micky Rae sealed it with a great strike to give us a 3-1 win.

“They didn’t take defeat too well. They wouldn’t come into our clubhouse afterwards, their manager locked the team in the changing room for nearly an hour, and complained about what he thought was a hostile atmosphere – and there were only 150 at the game! He was the most egotistical bloke I’d ever come across.”

West travelled outside the north east for the first time in the next round, to Doncaster based Askern Villa, near the bottom of the Northern Counties East League first division. The result wasn’t a foregone conclusion, as Askern fought all the way before going down 3-2.

“Askern Villa belied their league position, and caused me some embarrassment. I went to watch them in action the week before at Eccleshill – they were disorganised, and their keeper couldn’t hold on to the ball. I thought we would win six or seven nil.

“Mattie Moffat’s second goal was, for me, the best goal in the run -- if it was shown on Match of the Day, it would have been the goal of the month. The ball rolled to Mattie with his back to goal, he flipped it up with the outside of his right foot, turned his man and hit the ball on the half volley into the top stanchion. As an individual strike, that stamped his authority on the game.”

West were given another away draw in the next round, over 250 miles away in Avon at Bitton.

“They were a really good side, and going down the slope they took a 1-0 lead. Central defender Mark Stephenson got injured just before half time, and we were going to put Darryl Hall on instead of him.

“Instead, I suggested to Peter that we go three at the back, and put five in midfield, and so instead we put midfielder Steve Brown on the field.

“Browny made a big difference, and he gave midfielder Alex Francis plenty of space to go forward with our two wingers.

“It was a turning point in the game, and Mattie Moffat scored twice to put us in the lead. Mark Bell made a top drawer save at 2-1 to give us the impetus to go on and make it 3-1.”

The last 16 draw gave West probably the toughest possible draw, at four times Vase winners Whitley Bay at Hillheads.

“We said on the bus on the way back from Bitton that we would get Whitley, and so it proved.

“The biggest talking point of the game was the injury to Alex Francis, and as he was taken away by ambulance, the players rallied.

“There’s been a lot of debate about the way we celebrated our first goal, Whitley fans said that we ran towards the Whitley Bay technical area and punched the air, but that’s not true. I admit though that we ran on the pitch to celebrate.

“When Whitley equalised, they all ran towards our dugout into our technical area and celebrated. So when we scored the winner, we just went tit-for-tat. The result was for Alex. Our players stayed behind to comfort his parents, and waited for the chance to go and see him in hospital.”

West had another long round trip in the quarter finals, to Bournemouth on the south coast.

“We were hopeless at Bournemouth, and it was our worst performance of the competition. Our supporters made a big difference that day, and carried us through.

“It was at that point when we started to think that something could happen.”

West got the furthest possible trip in the semi finals, to Herne Bay in Kent.

“We were 2-0 up in 20 minutes, which was too good to be true. Maybe we went 2-0 up too early! They had two very good players, one of whom was suspended for the second leg.

“The crowd was really hostile - -so goodness knows what the Bacup manager would have made of it!

“Herne Bay got back to 2-2, so the game was finely balanced for the second leg at our place. When they went 1-0 up, I thought “here we go.”

“But our big players came to the fore, and got us through to the final. Micky Rae was magnificent.”

West Auckland: First qualifying round: Cleator Moor (h) 3-1. Banks 2, Francis.

Second qualifying round: Marske (a) 6-2. Wilson 3, Moffat 2, Francis.

First round: Shildon (a) 3-2. Rae 2, Francis.

Second round: Bacup (h) 3-1. Banks 2, Rae.

Third round: Askern Villa (a) 3-2. Moffat 2, Rae.

Fourth round: Bitton (a) 3-1. Francis, Moffat, Brown.

Fifth round: Whitley Bay (a) 2-1. Moffat, Rae.

Sixth round: Bournemouth (a) 2-0. Moffat, Rae.

Semi final: First leg: Herne Bay (a) 2-2 Moffat, Rae. (h) 2-1 Rae 2.