South Shields confirmed their position as red hot favourites to win the FA Buildbase Vase by crushing Newport Pagnell 6-1 in the quarter final on Saturday.

Shields were 4-0 up inside the first 25 minutes in front of a massive 3,161 crowd, and there won’t be many people backing against them to win the final at Wembley in May on this performance. They’ll know who they’re playing in the semi finals today, and maybe the only team that can beat Shields will be Shields themselves if they get complacent.

Joint manager Graham Fenton, whose side have now won their last 19 matches, said; “We couldn’t have asked for a better start. Those two early goals settled everybody down. We’d gone into the game with a few nerves, but when you’re 2-0 up in such a short period of time, the lads just went on from there.

“The first two strikes and the fourth goal were unbelievable. We’ve got a fantastic bunch of players, whatever we ask them to do, they go out and do it.

“We’re hugely appreciative of all the people who came to watch the game, they made it a lot easier.”

Shields took the lead in just the third minute, when David Foley fired past the Newport keeper from 25 yards, and then Wayne Phillips made it 2-0 with a left foot shot into the top corner.

Shields went close several times before they got the third on 23 minutes when Dillon Morse headed in a Phillips corner , then Robbie Briggs finished off a good move with a shot into the roof of the net on 25 minutes.

It was one way traffic after that, and on 64 minutes Gavin Cogdon scored the fifth with a penalty after he was brought down in the box. Andrew Stephenson then lifted the ball over the Newport defence for Cogdon to crack in the sixth on 70 minutes.

Shields hit the post and had efforts cleared off the line before the visitors pulled a late goal back.