North Shields assistant manager Andy Bowman says that the Northern League side is confident of getting a good result in the first leg of their Vase semi final at Highworth today.

Shields travelled down yesterday with 400 fans following behind them, determined to give themselves a good platform for next Saturday’s second leg in front of a full house on Tyneside.

“We’re confident of getting a result in our favour,” said Bowman. “We just want to make sure that we’re not well beaten going into next week. We’re perfectly capable of getting a draw, because we’re more than capable of getting something at our place.”

It’s only the second time that Shields have played outside the north east in the competition; they won at Erith and Belvedere in the last round.

“There are small margins in these games, and we’ll be doing our best to get things right before and during the game.

“Our aim will be to play as much as possible in Highworth’s half. Our manager, Graham Fenton, went to watch them play at Tadcaster in the last round, and he’s noticed a few things about them. We know that they like to knock the ball about a bit.

“I don’t think our players are nervous about the game, they seem to be coping with the idea of playing in a semi final. It’s everyone’s dream to play at Wembley, but we’ve told the players to forget about it.

“Nobody expected us to get this far, but now the players have a great chance to show what they can do. They’re like a coiled spring ready to go.”

Like Shields, Highworth, who play in the Hellenic League, have never played at this stage of the competition before.