Erith and Belvedere 0 North Shields 2.

North Shields want the away leg first in their Vase semi final after they travelled outside the north east for the first time and won a thrilling quarter final by 2-0 at Erith and Belvedere on Saturday.

Before Saturday, Shields had played seven games in the competition, all of them in the north east, but they showed that they don’t suffer from travel sickness by scoring twice in the second half at Park View Road.

Shields’ victory means that the Northern League has had representation in the semi finals for the tenth year in a row.

Assistant manager Andy Bowman said; “It was a fantastic win. It took us 20 minutes to get into the game, but we controlled the game after that and stayed on top.

“There were some brilliant performances, and the lads really dug in. They dealt with the occasion very well, we got our preparations spot on.

“I think we’d prefer to have the away leg of the semi final first, because we’re a better team at home. But it’s amazing to be playing in the semi final, considering that nobody expected us to get this far.”

After a goalless first half, Shields took the lead three minutes after half time when Dean Holmes picked up a Ben Richardson pass on the right, raced past a defender and fired home.

They made sure of a place in the last four when Richardson split the defence again, and Adam Forster managed to beat the keeper from a tight angle.

Shields might have even further than London to travel when the semis are drawn on Monday, they might be drawn against St Austell from Cornwall.