Spennymoor Town: Durham side aiming for Wembley glory in FA Trophy

Spennymoor are aiming to become only the second club after AFC Fylde to win both the Vase and the Trophy.

The Trophy is the most prestigious cup for non-league teams – it is played for by teams who compete in levels five to eight in the English football pyramid (the Premier League and English football League make up levels one to four), with clubs from levels nine to 11 entering the Vase.

The Moors finished ninth in National League North this season competing against fully professional sides while still operating on a part-time basis, with the squad training on Tuesday and Thursday nights.

Their run to Wembley has seen them knock out National League sides Boston United, Sutton United and Rochdale, the latter in the semi-finals.

And it has created lots of special memories for head of football Jason Ainsley.

He is ‘Mr Spennymoor’, having first signed for them as a player and then worked as assistant manager, coach, 13 years as manager and now in his current role.

He was in charge in May 2013 when they defeated Tunbridge Wells to lift the FA Vase.

“We get crowds of 1,200-1,300 from a population of 22,000 so the football team is a big part of what the community is all about,” Ainsley said.

“For a club the size of ours to get to Wembley twice in 12 years, it’s phenomenal really.

“In the Vase, we were the big pull at that time because we had a really strong team, the elite of north east players. North east clubs had a monopoly on the Vase and Spennymoor were expected to do really well.

“Now, it was important to have a good run but we’ve beaten some really strong sides.

“At Rochdale [in the last four], I got a car park space at the ground and we had flyers on our car doors about transport to Wembley.

“I think they just expected to turn up and win but we equalised with the last kick of the game and then stood up under pressure and scored all five penalties.

“That game just summed up Spennymoor.”