St ANDREWS F.C (Canal Street)

FA VASE QUARTER FINAL, St ANDREWS 1-0 NEWCASTLE BENFIELD, ATTENDANCE: 1,279

After failing to secure a ticket for the Arsenal v Everton FA Cup tie, due to The Blues not receiving their full 15% entitlement under FA rules (The Gooners hid behind some faceless Supporters Advisory Group to reduce Everton's allocation to 5,000 on the grounds of Health and Safety, as they did with Spurs and Liverpool but funnily enough not with Coventry) I had to look elsewhere for some cup action today.

This led me to Aylestone,  a suburb of Leicester, where East Midlands Counties League side St Andrews were taking on Northern League side Newcastle Benfield in the last eight of the FA Vase.  I can't be certain where St Andrews FC get their name from, but the Parish Church in Aylestone is called St Andrews.

St Andrews were making history today with their first ever appearance in the Quarter Finals after defeating Clipstone, Lincoln Moorlands Railway, Brocton, Bolehall Swifts, AFC Rushden & Diamonds and East Preston en route whilst Newcastle reached this stage of the competition by beating Vase holders Spennymoor in round five.

   

The club had given this tie maximum publicity, it certainly caught the imagination of the locals, and the club were rewarded with a four-figure crowd for, what I can only assume, is their best attendance in their 41 year history. It was certainly more than the 38 who watched them beat Anstey Nomads 4-2 on Tuesday night. The club also maximised today's opportunity by having scarves and special 'FA Vase 2014' badges on sale amongst the usual football fayre.

It was an incredibly tough ask for St Andrews as Northern League teams have dominated this competition in recent seasons and Benfield are playing at a step higher than their hosts.

Nonetheless St Andrews managed a superb display to book their place in the last four and continue their historic journey. The result though was down to dogged determination rather than free flowing football as the hosts stopped Newcastle Benfield getting a foothold in the game and taking their chance when when it came. The St Andrews defence were magnificent, their No5 especially, and Benfield were restricted to few opportunities.

The visitors did have the ball in the net in the first half, though that was ruled out for offside, but it was the home side who took the lead after 57 minutes when Declan Towers headed home, the ball creeping over the line. Benfield nearly levelled straight away but the ball was scrambled off the line by a Drews defender. They also had a chance late on, but the ball was headed over, however St Andrews had done more than enough to clinch the tie.

There were jubilant scenes at the end of the game as the players were mobbed on the pitch, the Leicestershire side now just two games from a trip to Wembley. They will meet another Northern league side, West Auckland Town, in the two-legged Semi Final. Who would bet against them getting there now?