By Brian Bennett
Ashington manager Nick Gray revealed that his proudest moment in football was eight years ago when he steered Morpeth Town to a 4-1 win over Hereford to lift the FA Vase at Wembley Stadium.
Recalling the unforgettable scenes, Gray said: “It was so special and is my proudest moment. There was a crowd of 48,000 inside Wembley and we were probably playing against the biggest favourites in Hereford. We watched them about 18 times. They had a lot of games and I even missed some of our own matches to take the opportunity to see them. Hereford had won the treble and I said to our lads ‘with no disrespect it’s like us being in the Northern Alliance League – because if we had won the NAL, we would have won the treble.”
He continued: “The Vase win was fantastic but the promotions with Morpeth Town were also great. To be fair it was important that we got out of the second division of the Northern League. We beat Brandon and Jarrow Roofing then drew with Seaham Red Star to win promotion on goal difference in the second year. Next up the ladder was the Northern League first division leading up to the Northern Premier League East Division followed by elevation to the NPL Premier Division. We were doing well and had hit a good streak then COVID kicked in in March and that’s when I decided to hang up my coach’s jacket. However, Ken Beattie the chair of Morpeth Town wanted to keep me involved at the club and that’s when the academy at the club came along.”