Morpeth Town’s Chris Swailes insists there was no way he was going to stride off into the sunset and leave football behind him after his side’s 4-1 FA Vase success over Hereford.
The 45-year-old machine operator has now won the FA Vase on three occasions after victories with Bridlington Town and Dunston UTS at Wembley Stadium.
He had to wait 19 years between those successes but the Gateshead-born centre-half enjoyed one of the finest days of his career, as he chested home his side’s equaliser after they fell behind.
Hereford 1-4 Morpeth Town
The FA Vase Final
Wembley Stadium connected by EE
Sunday 21 May 2016
Morpeth win £25,000 from The FA prize fund
Swailes has retired and returned to the game twice. A decade ago a serious foot injury resulted in him having a six-inch screw inserted in his heel, and the former Ipswich Town, Bury and Rotherham United defender was forced to stop again two years ago following four heart operations.
But he is a firm advocate of the old saying, ‘you’re only as old as you feel’, and is determined to keep on pulling on the Morpeth jersey for a long time yet.
“It's a dream come true,” he said: “It’s not just me out there – the lads gave a massive effort, especially after going 1-0 down within a minute and 20 seconds.
“We have come into the game after the first 20 minutes and then dominated. It could have been more than four I think which just shows you what a good group of lads we have got.
“It's just a bonus that we've come this far; the camaraderie we have got, the competitive edge, to turn up to the dressing room for the banter, I just want to keep on being a part of it.
“I'm a big kid at heart and I want to continue being a big kid.”
Rob Purdie had fired Hereford ahead after just 75 seconds, but Swailes equalised before the break on his way to earning the man-of-the-match award.
Luke Carr, Sean Taylor and substitute Shaun Bell added more goals for the jubilant Highwaymen in a battle between two teams in the ninth tier of English football, Hereford from the Midland League and Morpeth from the Northern League.
It was a great exhibition of football to open up the Football Association’s Non-League Finals Day with the FA Trophy between Grimsby and Halifax to follow.
And Carr, who as well as scoring in the final had netted the last-gasp goal that got them there in the previous round, admitted he had been itching to take to the Wembley turf for weeks beforehand.
He said: “Ever since that goal it's been absolute pandemonium. We can't sleep at night, we've been dreaming of today, and to get that as underdogs was amazing.
“All the hype was about them, but we were quietly confident. We knew if we came here and relaxed that we’d do ok.
“There was no pressure on us, but we were confident in our ability and I’m pleased that everyone could see that.”
