North Shields challenged to keep FA Vase dreams alive

North Shields have been urged to make the most of their return to competitive action by progressing into the last 16 of the Isuzu FA Vase with a win at Chadderton on Saturday.

The 2015 Vase winners earned a North Tyneside derby win at local rivals Whitley Bay on Boxing Day as Stephen Hall grabbed the only goal at Hillheads to help his side remain on the fringes of the Northern League Division One play-off race.

However, that remains the last time Brian Smith’s side saw competitive action after a Brooks Mileson Memorial League Cup tie at Division Two leaders Redcar Town and a Northumberland Senior Cup quarter-final tie against Whitley Bay were both postponed over the last fortnight.

Smith did get to see his players in action when they faced Northern Premier League side Blyth Spartans in a friendly last week – but a month without a competitive fixture means there is an element of the unknown in Saturday’s Vase tie against a Chadderton side sitting in eighth place in the North West Counties League Premier Division.

For exclusive stories and all the detailed Non-League news you need, subscribe to The Non-League Paper website, digital edition, or newspaper from as little as 14p a day.

WATCH THE NON-LEAGUE GOALMOUTH HERE

Dreaming

The hosts have become familiar with North East opposition this season after facing Bishop Auckland, Redcar Town and Spennymoor Town in national cup competitions this season – and the Robins are now aiming to replicate the latter’s FA Cup win against Chadderton to take a step closer to Wembley.

Speaking ahead of the visit to the North West, North Shields assistant manager Andy Bowman (pictured below in the front row, right) called on the Robins players to shrug off any possible post-Christmas slumber to keep their Vase dreams alive.

He told NLP: “The Vase always takes a while to get to this stage, but when it does, it starts to feel more real.

“There’s hundreds of teams that enter the competition at the start of the season, and now we are down to the last 32, and you start dreaming of what could happen.”

Landmark

Bowman added: “For us, it’s a bit of a landmark because it also means we start in the second round next season, so that’s a bit of a head start for us.

“But this is now the business end of the current season, and it’s always a strange time coming back after Christmas because you tend to have a lot of postponement and it’s always about how you react to having time out of action.

“It can take time to get back into action, but we are looking forward to it, and we want to ensure the lads enjoy a great trip home by getting a win.”

READ MORE: Mark Carruthers: Why Macclesfield’s FA Cup shock was about more than Crystal Palace’s failure