Whitley Bay manager Ian Chandler says that it might take at least a decade for the four times winners’ achievements to be fully appreciated.

Whitley magnificently kept a firm grip on the Vase with a hard fought 3-2 win over Midland Alliance club Coalville on Sunday, and assured them of a place in history, even if they hadn’t done so already.

Whitley are the first club to win three successive finals in any competition at Wembley since it was originally built in 1923, and they are now unbeaten in 26 successive Vase matches, a record for any English cup competition.

And Chandler himself is emphatically assured of a place in many a non league football record book by being the only man to score the winner in a Vase final, and be manager of a club that’s won the competition three times.

“I thought it was extra special this time, mainly for the six or seven new lads who have joined the club since last summer,” he said.

“It was such a good game, that I don’t think I’d have been too disappointed if we’d lost.

“I think it will take a long time for what we’ve achieved to sink in. We’ve won three in a row now, and before that, the 2002 win was a great journey. It might take ten, twenty years before we really appreciate what we’ve done. It might start to sink in when we lose, but for the time being, I just want to continue to enjoy the trip we’re on.

“Can we make it four in a row? There are a lot of teams out there around the country getting better, and we need to improve our squad.

“In past quarter finals, we’ve beaten Dunston and Shildon from our league. Shildon lost one of their lads at a key time in the game, and Dunston ran us ragged for an hour before Lee Kerr popped up with two goals.

“I don’t mind who we play in the future if we get through to the final again, whether it’s a Northern League team or not.

“The Vase is our Holy Grail. A little bit of money can be made, but most of all, it’s for the prestige.

“I feel very fortunate to manage the team, it’s the lads who are winning the games. They were magnificent today in the way they kept bouncing back after Coalville equalised.

“People are saying that was the best game that’s been at the new Wembley, and I can understand why, because it had loads of good attacking football and loads of penalty area incidents.

“I was very pleased for the fans from both sides. Officially, there was a 9,000 crowd in the ground, but they sounded more like 20,000.”

Chandler again paid tribute to striker Paul Chow, who has now scored a phenomenal 26 goals for Whitley in the Vase alone. He scored after just 21 seconds last season against Wroxham, but Wembley had to wait until nearer half time before he found the target. With the goal he scored two years ago against Glossop in the 2-0 win, he has the remarkable record of scoring four times at Wembley in three appearances.

“I’m very proud of Chowy, he’s scored in every round this season, which is a great record.. He’s such a great predator. He was hardly in the game, but he’s popped up with two goals. And Lee hit a great free kick that Chowy managed to put over the line.”

Chandler knew that his team had been in a game that was much tougher than last season’s one-sided 6-1 win over Wroxham.

“I was never confident throughout the whole game, because they were such a good team. They started off well, and we conceded a lot of free kicks and corners that put us under pressure in the first half. I was disappointed with the way we began the game.

“Coalville are a very good team, I’d put them on a par with Herne Bay, who we beat earlier in the competition, and best of luck to them in the future.”