Whitley Bay made it a double Wembley weekend for the north east when they reached their third successive final on Saturday – all thanks to striker Paul Chow's hat trick against Poole Town to give them a 3-1 win on the day and a 5-2 aggregate semi final win.

Chow, who scored in the first 20 seconds at Wembley last season, scored a hat trick to take his tally for Whitley in the Vase alone in the last four years to a remarkable 25, and set the STL Northern League up for a showdown with Coalville from the Midland Alliance, and a possible successive hat trick of wins.

Whitley boss Ian Chandler revealed that Chow had been stung by criticism on the south coast of his performance last week in the first leg. “We used that criticism as ammunition, and he made Poole eat their words. He was called a donkey. He was superb, and took his chances really well. He really is our man for the FA Vase. I suppose it was typical Whitley Bay, because we made life difficult for ourselves again!”

There were fears that Whitley would repeat their poor performance last week when they went an early goal down against the Wessex League side, and therefore the scores were level on aggregate.

“We didn’t know what to do in the first 15 minutes because the tie was evenly poised, but the crowd kept backing us. There were 2,800 in the ground, and they provided a fantastic atmosphere. There was a huge roar when Chowy equalised.

“It hasn’t sunk in yet that we’re in the final again. It’s hard to believe that we’ve made history and are going to Wembley for the third year in a row. We’ve got our own seats there now!”

Poole took the lead after 8 minutes when the Whitley defence failed to clear and Dan Sturgess sneaked in to level on aggregate.

Whitley hit back, and went close three times before skipper Damon Robson found Chow running clear, and the hit man kept his cool and lobbed the ball over the advancing keeper.

It was all Bay after that, as the pressure increased. Chow made it 2-1 after playing a one-two with Paul Robinson, then he completed a superb hat trick after Robson’s corner was flicked on by Chris Fawcett.

Coalville, meanwhile, won 3-2 at Kings Lynn to earn them their first Wembley appearance on May 8th, the day after the FA Trophy final between Darlington and Mansfield.