CHORLEY S SHEEN
The crowning glory for Magpies’ hero Hall would be to meet another goal-grabber in black and white stripes.. schoolboy idol Shearer
CHORLEY goalscoring hero Connor Hall would love to make up for missing out on bumping elbows with Wayne Rooney by meeting Alan Shearer.
Shearer is Toon fan Hall’s all-time hero and he used to make the long trek from his home down south with his Geordie dad to see him at St James’ Park. Hall has never met Shearer and would die for any signed item or message from the Newcastle legend.
“I’m a Newcastle fan because e my dad’s from up there,” said the e striker, who also plays in black k and white stripes for the e Magpies.
“Alan Shearer’s my hero. He has s to be the top goalscorer in the Premier League ever.
“I’ve never met him and would love to, it would be amazing.
“I did get up a few times to watch him play when I was younger.
“It was difficult, though because where I lived was a fivehour drive from Newcastle. A million per cent it would be amazing to get something from him, even a hello – and I watch him on Match of the Day all the time.”
Hall, 22, opened the scoring to complete his hat-trick of goals against EFL sides, adding to his efforts against Wigan and Peterborough, before Michael Calveley sealed Chorley’s historic win.
The on-loan Woking hitman is the first non-league player since Sutton United’s Roarie Deacon in 2016-17 to score in each of the first three rounds.
Hall is living the dream with the National League North side after failing to establish himself as a teenager at Sheffield United and then Bolton. His best goal before this season was for Accrington against Sunderland in League One and he was gutted when it was erased from the record books when the game was abandoned.
“I scored a goal for Accrington against Sunderland but the game got abandoned, so it’s like it never happened,” he said. “I got picked up by Sheffield United just before I was 18. I was only there a year-and-ahalf and I had various loans to the non-league to try and get football. “Then I got released, went to Bolton had three seasons there, played for the Under-23s and never quite broke into the first team. “My first-team opportunities have been very limited so to come here and play and score against teams like Derby, Peterborough and Wigan is just amazing.”
Chorley have won three games in the FA Cup proper to reach the fourth round for the first time, which equals the total amount they had won prior to this season in their 138-year history. Derby, minus Rooney and their first- team squad because of coronavirus, handed debuts to a team of kids, including six Under-18 players.
But Hall claims that should not diminish their achievement.
“It doesn’t matter who they put out,” he added. “They put out the best team they possibly could, albeit they were struck by Covid.
“But we still had to go out and win.”
HALL OF FAMER Connor Hall celebrates the opener on a day non-league Chorley will never forget
THEY’VE EARNED THEIR STRIPES Calveley adds to Hall’s opener (below) on a day when any vantage point was taken and staff pulled out all the stops to make sure the game went ahead