POOLE Town faltered at the final hurdle on the road to Wembley as their FA Vase dream was shattered by holders Whitley Bay.

Paul Chow bagged a clinical hat-trick to book the Northern League outfit a third successive appearance in the showpiece final, the holders meeting Coalville.

Leading 2-1 from last week’s first leg at Tatnam, Bay recovered from conceding an early goal with Chow’s exploits seeing them home with relative ease, 5-2 on aggregate.

The Dolphins made a dream start when they cancelled out Bay’s first-leg lead after just eight minutes.

Dan Cann’s long throw into the danger area caused mayhem, with Dave Sturgess scrambling the ball over the line at the far post.

Poole were thankful to Nick Hutchings for ensuring their lead was preserved when the goalkeeper saved bravely at the feet of Chow after the striker had gone clear just seconds later.

Having weathered an early storm, the hosts and holders began to find some rhythm with Hutchings and Lamin Dibba combining to spare the Dolphins.

Firstly, Hutchings beat away a fierce drive from Lee Kerr before Dibba cleared off the line from Chow’s follow-up effort.

However, disaster struck for Poole when Chow restored Bay’s aggregate lead, the striker capitalising on some slack defending from Michael Walker to score.

Chow delicately lobbed the ball over the advancing Hutchings after Walker had failed to deal with a routine clearance from deep.

Buoyed by the goal, Bay seized the initiative and Paul Robinson went close to netting after Chris Fawcett’s free-kick had eluded the Dolphins defence.

Poole were rocked by the loss to injury of skipper Carl Poore early in the second half with his replacement Aaron Skelton at fault as Bay extended their lead.

Chow worked an opening with Robinson before drilling emphatically past Dolphins goalkeeper Hutchings in the 59th minute.

And there was no way back for Poole after Chow had pounced on the loose ball to complete the scoring with 62 minutes on the clock.

Dolphins: Hutchings, Poore (Skelton, 50), Walker, Dibba, Spetch (S Smith, 60), Gill, Sturgess, Richardson (Cook, 66), Hubbard, Preston, Cann.

Unused subs: Roberts, Jones (g/k).

Bay: Hayes, McFarlane, Fawcett (Pounder, 81), B Smith, Coulson, Williams, Ormston, Robson, Kerr, Chow (Timmons, 77), Robinson (Gibson, 84).

Unused subs: Rowe, Burke (g/k).

Referee: Mark Naylor (Sheffield).

Attendance: 2,482.