So this was it, one of these teams were potentially ninety minutes away from Wembley as the FA Vase Semi Final 2nd Legs were upon us.
And I was at a packed Mariners Park as a record crowd of 3,464 were their to see who would prevail between South Shields and Coleshill Town.
Most of them were of course cheering on the local side who held a 2-1 lead from the first leg at Coleshills Pack Meadow the weekend before so the North East side were favourites to progress. However an early goal for the visitors could swing the tie still so it was all to play for.
The hosts though were keen to put any thoughts of a visitors comeback to bed early on and launched an early attack in the 2nd minute which saw a ball into the box just about dealt with by a stretched Coleshill backline.
And in the 10th minute the hosts came oh so close to getting that early goal when a deflected effort came back off the bar and then five minutes later an almighty scramble inside the visitors box saw an effort blocked before a relived visiting defence finally cleared their lines.
Coleshill managed to whether this early storm though and tried to mount an attack of their own in the 19th minute and a great ball forward almost had them in but hosts keeper Connell and a defender just did enough to thwart striker Jordan Nadat as he threatened to put the visitors ahead.
The game settled down somewhat after this and the next chance arrived just past the half hour mark when Shields got in down the right but the ball across saw a miskicked finish roll through to the keeper before the visitors went very close to taking the lead nine minutes before the break when a decent effort from inside the box was brilliantly tipped over by Connell.
So the tie was still very much in the balance as the game approached half time but then came a big moment as the hosts managed to find that all important goal as in the 45th minute a ball laid across to Julio Arca saw the ex Sunderland and Middlesbrough midfielder crack home a superb left footed effort from twenty yards and send the home fans and players wild with delight.
Shields suddenly had their tails up again and almost netted again moments later but saw David Foley hit an effort into the side netting. However it was a big blow to visitors Coleshill to concede so late on in the half and they now had a two goal deficit to overcome in the tie in one half of football.
Half Time South Shields 1 Coleshill Town 0 (aggregate 3-1)
The opening ten minutes or so of the second period yielded no real chances as Shields looked to keep the visitors quiet whilst the Coleshill boys desperately sought a route back into the tie. Just before the hour mark Shields saw a great run by Arca into the box eventually result in an effort being saved by keeper Hathaways before the loose ball was squeezed away as the hosts looked to finish the tie once and for all.
And sure enough in the 62nd minute they did just that as Gav Cogdon beat the offside trap and duly lofted a beautiful finish over keeper Hathaway and cue more celebrations as the knew they were pretty much on their way to Wembley now after opening up a three goal cushion on aggregate.
Coleshill to their credit kept fighting though as they knew a quick couple of goals back would possibly change the entire mood of the tie and with just over twenty minutes left a harmless ball towards the hosts back post almost crept inside the near post but keeper Connell managed to palm the ball wide and preserve the hosts clean sheet and three goal cushion.
With ten minutes left the hosts sent a free header from a corner go straight at keeper Hathaway and as time began to wind down Shields threatened more goals and with two minutes left a terrific ball into the visitors box saw a brilliant save from visiting keeper Hathaway which even the referee clapped!!
And just over a minute later Shields did find a third when substitute Finnigan added the finishing touches to another sweeping move from the hosts as the visitors looked tired after giving their all in this one.
And in stoppage time their waw enough time for Shields to put the gloss on the scoreline when Foley burst through to add a fourth and send the hosts through to the Wembley final in May in style.
It was harsh on the visitors who more than competed over the two legs and so the 6-1 aggregate score doesn’t really tell you how hard Shields had to work in these two games. But they took chances at crucial moments in the two games which is what champions do and they now have a Wembley date in May to look forward to.
Full Time South Shields 4 Coleshill Town 0 (aggregate 6-1)
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