Armstrong has just returned home after month long treatment for an injury to his pancreas, sustained in the dying minutes of the play off final against Bamber Bridge over a month ago.

“I’m slowly getting there, a full recovery will take time,” he said. “The main thing is, I’m feeling a lot better now that I’m back at home. It’s just over a month since the incident happened, and I’ve been bedbound in hospital nearly all of that time.

“I’ve lost a lot of fitness, so it will take time to regain that level, and I don’t think I’ll be fully fit for the start of pre season training later this month. I’ve been told that I can start jogging again around June 18^th, but not to do anything too strenuous. I’ve lost over a stone and a half in weight, and I’ve experienced some muscle wastage, so all that has to be built up again.

“People have asked me whether I regret going in for that challenge against their keeper when maybe I didn’t need to, but I don’t. That’s the sort of person I am. I’ve collided with keepers before, and they’ve collided with me, and nothing like that had happened previously. It was just one of those things, maybe it was the speed with which we collided and the angle he came in, I don’t know. It’s in my nature to challenge for the ball.

“I’ve never pulled out of a challenge in my career, and if I started doing that, then I couldn’t live with myself. There’s no way that I wouldn’t be fully committed.”

“Army” scored 26 goals in league and cup last season to make him the club’s top scorer. “I was delighted with my season, it was one of the best I’ve ever had. I really enjoyed it, not just because of the success that we had at the end of it, but also because I played with a fantastic set of lads, management and fans.

“We had one or two difficult periods during the season when results weren’t quite going our way but we overcame them.

“Plus there were one or two people who wanted to spoil the party, which was a very good reason to get out of the league.

“I’ve played in the EvoStik Premier Division before, and the clubs in this league are more professional and better standard. Teams will come and try to win games, whereas in the season just finished some teams came to our place and tried to defend for a point. Games should be more open and that should help us.”

Fans will always remember the goals that Armstrong scored in the play offs, the diving header against Spennymoor, and the header from a Nathan Cartman assist against Bamber Bridge. “The odds seemed to be stacked against us in the second half against Spennymoor, but then we showed how strong the depth of our squad is. The manager made two substitutions, Liam Hatch and David Dowson, and both of them scored to win us the game.

“We also showed our strength of character, by reacting well to come back from 2-1 down. We showed how good a team we are, and what a strong group of players that we have at the club.

“The place erupted when Dowsa scored the winner, what a feeling that was when the ball went in. I think the thought had crossed our minds that we didn’t want to go to penalties, because we all know what a lottery they can be. Plus, I didn’t realise how late in the game we had scored, I thought there were about ten minutes left. It was a surprise when it was announced soon after that there were four minutes injury time to be played.

“In the final, Bamber Bridge were desperate to get a goal before half time, and we never really felt massively under pressure. Once half time came, and with the wind behind us in the second half, we were confident that we were going to win.

And in the first five minutes of the second half we picked up the tempo.

“I was delighted for Nathan Cartman when he scored, because he came under a bit of pressure when he arrived at the club, and was maybe a victim of his own success previously. He took time to settle just like any player does with new team mates around him, but in the final, he scored one goal and set one up for me.”

However, with promotion just about in the bag and the game heading towards stoppage time, Armstrong came off second best against Bamber Bridge keeper Lee Dovey as he went through one-on-one outside the penalty area, and after several minutes’ treatment, had to be helped from the field.

“I missed all the celebrations. I came off the field with my injury, and I was in absolute agony. I tried to walk over to the rest of the lads on the final whistle, but I couldn’t do it. The fans were great, some were running over and asking how I was. But I knew I had to get out of the way because I was in so much pain. That was the most disappointing thing, missing out on all the celebrations on the balcony. But the lads have said that that they’ll organise another promotion party to make up for it!”

This is the fourth time that Armstrong has celebrated winning promotion. He won the Northern League with Dunston, then after he moved to Gateshead he was part of the team that won the EvoStik Premier and Conference North in successive seasons. “I haven’t had a bad football career, I’ve got some great memories. I’d love to have even more next season.”