West travel to Whitley Bay to play in the FA Vase 3rd round for the first time in our history.

Key details

� Saturday 3rd December, 3pm
� FA Vase 3rd Round
� Hillheads Park, Rink Way, Whitley Bay (NE25 8HR)
� Match Parking behind the ground
� Whitley Bay or Monkseaton are the closest metro stops and they’re both a 10 minute walk.

It’s a proud moment for the club this weekend as we travel to Tyneside to face Whitley Bay in the FA Vase. West have already made history this season by reaching the FA Cup First Qualifying Round for the first time in our history and will be hoping to create more history by extending our FA Vase run. This is already the furthest we have reached in the FA Vase and the squad will be hoping to keep the run going. Standing in the way are Whitley Bay from The Northern League. The Seahorses currently sit 2nd in the league and have a rich pedigree in the Vase, winning the competition a record four times – including three wins in a row between 2009 and 2011. While the task appears daunting, this West team have prided themselves on rising to the challenge in cup matches and will take a lot of confidence from last year’s cup upsets in our run to the Lancashire Challenge Trophy Final.

West have demonstrated the importance of the FA Vase in our season by breaking up disappointing spells of form in the past couple of months with impressive FA Vase wins against Golcar United and Bacup Borough. Earlier in the season we defeated Ashton Town and Nostell Miners Welfare in the competition. Whitley Bay have had a more unpredictable route to this stage of the vase having been reinstated into the competition after it was discovered that an opposition team had broken competition rules. Whitley Bay come into the game off the back of a surprising 6-1 defeat against West Allotment Celtic and will be hoping for a reaction, whereas West come into the game off the back of four games unbeaten and three wins in the last four.

West have no fresh injury concerns and will be encouraged by Billy Matthews’ return to the squad as well as Curtis Miller and Ben Elliott regaining match sharpness following injuries. Max Lewens is cup-tied having represented Ashton Athletic earlier in the tournament.

We’ll be hoping for the backing of a vocal travelling support as we aim to create more cup history.