THREE years ago on his way home from holiday, Paul Chow flew over Wembley while the FA Vase final played out below.
Had Whitley Bay not lost to Lowestoft Town a month earlier, he would have been down on the hallowed turf himself, instead of deciding on his duty free.
It seems like he has been on a personal crusade to avoid a repeat ever since.
Twelve months later he scored as the Seahorses made amends, beating Glossop North End.
Last season his semi-final brace against Barwell proved a lifeline, and in the final his 21-second goal was the fastest headquarters has ever seen.
This year he has scored in every round in which Whitley have been required to participate, and on Saturday – in an all-Northern League quarter-final at Dunston UTS – another double was decisive.
Trailing to Andrew Bulford’s opener, the least Dunston deserved for their first-half dominance, Chow equalised 10 minutes into the second half and struck the winner with eight minutes remaining.
That was harsh on a club rocked last week by the death of their physio, Matty Annan. They did him proud, and were certainly due more than defeat.
One side played well, and lost. The other played below themselves, yet won. Good sides can do that.
And Chow is looking forward to this morning’s last-four draw – Poole, King’s Lynn or Coalville await – fearing no one and aiming to notch against whoever.
“I probably can’t beat 21 seconds but I said to (team-mate) Chris Fawcett before the game that if we get to the final I’d like to score in every round we play in, and so far I’ve managed it,” he said.
“There’s still a lot of work to do yet but it’s a fantastic feeling to be through, we’re absolutely buzzing.
“We didn’t seem to be on our game at all. Fair play to Dunston, they got the goal they deserved from the run of play.
“We had a word with ourselves at half-time. There were no teacups, some harsh words but we didn’t need to be told, we knew it ourselves. We didn’t want to go out on that sort of performance. We’ve been up against it before and come through and we knew if we played like we can, we’d always be in the game.
“It’s an incredible achievement for the club. As a non-league footballer, you dream about it and to get to the semis four times in a row is fantastic.
“It’s hard now not to think about Wembley. We’re within touching distance and it would be a shame after the hard work we’ve put in not to go and do it again. We’ve been to Wembley the last two years, we know what we’re capable of. At the start of the season, you’d have taken a two-legged semi-final against anybody. Fingers crossed, if we play like we did in the second half we shouldn’t fear anybody.”
They will certainly be relieved Dunston have been dispensed with, for Billy Irwin’s side pushed them all of the way.
“I’m gutted, we’ve done great to get this far but it’s absolutely gut-wrenching to have gone out,” Irwin said.
“We didn’t deserve that because we were much the better team in the first half and although we weren’t as good in the second half, it was still even. The lads are dejected, I can’t fault them. People say Whitley didn’t play well. That doesn’t wash with me, I think we played that well they couldn’t get near us first half, but all credit to them.
“It’s been a hard week mentally. Matty would have been proud.
“He’s with us, in the changing room and forever.”
DUNSTON: Connell, Pickering, Cattanach, Bell, Galbraith, Harkin, Dixon, Herron, McAndrew, Preen (Goddard 22), Bulford.
WHITLEY: Hayes, McFarlane, Anderson, Timmons, Williams, Fawcett (Pounder 55), Robson, Robinson (Gibson 89), Ormston, Chow (Smith 90), Kerr.
Referee: Jez Simpson (Lancaster).
Attendance: 1,496.
