Hard and bobbly pitches are inevitably the order of the day right now, and although hosts Croston had done an excellent job of presenting the playing surface in as good a condition as humanly possible, short of installing sprinklers there was little they could have done to defy the laws of nature. Villa welcomed back a couple of the walking wounded, and indeed played as well as they have for a few weeks, but a failure to turn superior possession into meaningful chances in the end meant that the ninety minutes finished goalless. Fulwood looked fresher at the start of extra time, and three goals in as many minutes settled the tie in favour of the Preston side, leaving Villa to rue what might have been, but knowing that if they play like that in their remaining fixtures, a buoyant end to the season is assured, provided they can be a bit more assertive in front of goal.

The first half was played at a fast pace, with the Euxton side enjoying the majority of the territorial advantage, but as alluded to earlier, Fulwood keeper Brindle had little to be really troubled about. Danial Hogg’s pace was eliciting some panicky defending at times, but for the most part Villa were unable to turn this potent weapon into meaningful chances. A quality Hogg cross on ten minutes proved a fraction too high for Matt Atherton to get his head to, and five minutes later, full back Sam Bolton went close twice in quick succession with headers from corner kicks, but last ditch blocks on the line foiled the top scorer’s efforts.

The second half resumed in much the same vein, with Villa having the more telling possession, but again there was a paucity of efforts on target. Atherton fired a free kick over the bar three minutes in, and ten minutes later, Stuart Bingham went close with a powerful header from a Gavin Cooper corner.  Cooper again was the creator five minutes later with a weaving run into the box, but Atherton skied the cut back.

On we went, Hogg shot just over again with a drive at pace, and Bingham fired a free kick just wide. Both sides had stonewall penalty claims waved away, and the scheduled ninety finished as it began with Villa in the ascendancy and in a role reversal, Cooper shot fractionally over from an Atherton cut back as the match entered stoppage time.

And so to extra time. Perhaps lifted by a feeling of good fortune to be still in the hunt, Fulwood began extra time the more aggressive, and indeed some of the Villa players began to show signs of tiredness. Ross Baxter was called into serious action for the first time with an excellent save from a free kick, but although, as when Villa had their turn in the driving seat, there was little end product to test the defending resources.

The second period of extra time was a different matter. Perhaps Villa had mentally settled for the penalty shoot-out, but Fulwood had other ideas. In the first minute, Hine grabbed an all-important opener after good work through the inside left channel. This acted like a whiff of smelling salts to the Euxton lads, and immediately efforts were redoubled. Straight from the restart, Hogg latched on to a through ball and smashed an unstoppable shot high into the net to square things up again.

Within a minute however, Fulwood had regained the advantage. As darkness drew in, Blackwell raced down the right wing and fired a cross towards the far post. In the rapidly descending gloom, Baxter misjudged the flight, and the ‘cross’ ended up in the top corner. Looked spectacular, but there was more than a touch of fortune about it, not that that bothered the Fulwood entourage of course.

Once again stung into a response, it was all hands to the pump. With little thought of defending, Villa through everyone forward. The tactic looked to have paid off five minutes from time when centre back Lee Chambers fired a thunderbolt which looked certain to find the top corner, but somehow Brindle flung himself full length to turn it over with a match-winning save. 

Villa pressed and pressed in the few minutes that remained, and Atherton had an effort miraculously cleared off the line, but it was not to be, and although the match ended with all twenty two players in and around the Fulwood box, they held on for a notable victory, and progress to the Final on May the sixth where they will start as favourites to lift the cup.

Villa Line-Up: Ross Baxter, Matt Conway, Darren Davies, Lee Chambers, Sam Bolton, Matt Plano, Stuart Bingham (David Warburton 110), Elliot Dunn (Ryan Lilley 105), Gavin Cooper, Matt Atherton (Michael Clitheroe 110), Danial Hogg