Vase

I had a very long day out for Non League Finals Day at Wembley, particularly given the 12.15 start for the first match,

The FA Vase Final kicked off proceedings, with Chertsey Town beating Cray Valley 3-1 after extra time. Both teams had won their respective (Level 9/Step 5) league titles this year so it was a close encounter and either side could have won it in the 90.

Today’s image shows some of the Chertsey players, with trophy, celebrating in front of their fans, by which time the teams for the second match were already out in the pitch warming up. The FA Trophy was being contested  by Leyton Orient who had just won promotion back into the Football League after winning the National League, and AFC Fylde who a week earlier had lost out in another Wembley occasion, the national league play-off final against Salford City to see who would join Orient in going up.

I’d chosen to go in the Fylde section out of loyalty to the North and some reflection of the fact that I lived on the Fylde for a year during my time at Lancaster. Again, it was a close tie but Fylde had the better chances and deserved to claim their 1-0 victory.

Then it was a quick escape to beat the tube queue so I could catch my train home.