West Auckland boss Gary Forrest ready for FA Vase push

By Mark Carruthers

GARY FORREST and West Auckland Town know a thing or two about bitter disappointment in the FA Vase.

The Northern League Division One club have made their way to Wembley finals on two separate occasions before coming out on the wrong end of results against Dunston UTS and Sholing.

For all of his success as a manager at Shildon and with West, Forrest is yet to experience a Wembley showpiece, despite reaching the latter stages on several occasions with both clubs.

The Wembley arch will come back into his sights next weekend when his side travel to Northern Counties East League club North Ferriby – themselves no strangers to Wembley after their 2016 FA Trophy triumph under their former guise – in the fourth round of the competition.

There is clear hunger desire Forrest and from West Auckland to make sure that their “perfect match” can lead them to a successful date at Wembley and put their past disappointments firmly behind them.

He told The NLP: “I’ve been to a semi-final , I’ve been to a quarter-final and god knows how many times I’ve been to the fifth round.

“With West’s history in the competition, I thought it might be a perfect match when I joined the club and I am still hopeful that it can be.

“In the last three years at West, we have to the fourth round, fifth round and quarter-final and every time you sense something around the club.

Winners

“You get the feeling that we are all wondering if this could be the year when we go further.

“We have let ourselves down and not showed up in those previous years and sometimes we just haven’t had the rub of the green.

“But this is a different year and we have told the lads they have a game a week for the next five weeks.

“If they win them all they are Vase winners. Now they have to go and do it.”

West’s preparations for their final push to reach the latter stages got underway last week with a first training session since before Christmas.

Forrest and his coaching staff have also organised a number of friendlies as they step up their preparations for the tie.

The West boss admitted that there is a buzz around his squad after almost five months out of action.

“To be honest, we had no idea whether the Vase would return this season,” he explained.

“But we are pleased that it is and there is a definite buzz around the players because they know they have something major to play for.

“We are delighted to be back training, to get the players back to doing what we all love doing and we are looking forward to the challenges that lie ahead of us.”