North Shields take a slender advantage into this week’s second leg after they won 1-0 at Highworth in their Vase semi final on Saturday.
The game is already a sellout at The Morgue, but assistant manager Andy Bowman says that the passage to the final at Wembley is by no means a foregone conclusion.
“Without a doubt, the semi final is far from over because there is still plenty of work to do,” he said. “A one goal lead is pretty slender, Highworth just have to score in the opening minutes of the return game and it’s all square again.
“At least we’ll be able to play the way we want to. The pitch on Saturday was awful and bobbly, and there was a massive slope, so we were happy to keep a clean sheet. We would have been happy with a goalless draw before the start of the game. We can’t complain, but there’s still a lot of work to do.
“Dean Holmes took his goal well. We could maybe have got another, but we’re happy with what we’ve done so far.”
Michael McKeown, Adam Forster and Denver Morris all went close for Shields in the first 20 minutes, while Highworth’s Callum Parsons fired just wide.
Half time was longer than usual because a North Shields supporter needed urgent medical treatment, and there was an altercation in the clubhouse.
Highworth had a couple of chances at the start of the second half, but the goal that mattered came on 69 minutes when Ben Richardson had a shot blocked, and Dean Holmes scored from the rebound.
In the other semi final, 2009 finalists Glossop won their first leg 2-0 at St Austell in Cornwall.
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