THE FA TROPHY, IN PARTNERSHIP WITH CARLSBERG
SEMI-FINALS
FIRST LEG

Aldershot Town     v      Hednesford Town        0-2
Telford United       v      Canvey Island             0-0

Telford United, three-times winners of The FA Trophy, failed to make the most of home advantage as it ended all square against Canvey Island in the first leg of their Semi-Final.

In the other semi-final first leg, Hednesford Town ran out 0-2 winners on their trip to Aldershot Town and must now fancy their chances of making the final of The FA Trophy, non-league football’s most prestigious cup competition.

At Telford’s impressive Bucks Head stadium, with both sides battling to come to terms with a heavily-sanded pitch, the first half saw the visitors from Essex looking the stronger.

Pacey striker Junior McDougal, in particular, caused the home defence problems and Telford keeper Chris McKenzie was kept busy, with one acrobatic diving save to tip over drawing applause, alongside a firm punched clearance and a sliding tackle well outside his area to defeat the onrushing McDougal.

But the teams changed round without scoring and it was Telford who looked the more likely to take the lead at the start of the second half.

Roared on by the mainly home supporters in a crowd of 3,061, the home side forced Canvey keeper Danny Potter into action on several occasions and might have scored on several occasions if their final touch had been secure.

However, it was not to be and they were forced to hold on with only 10 men for the final 10 minutes, after defender Neil Howarth was sent off for a second bookable offence.

Aldershot Town had an afternoon to forget in the other semi-final, with visitors Hednesford Town taking two of the few chances on offer to grab a precious away advantage in front of a crowd of 3,461.

Mark Danks opened the scoring for the Midlanders on 25 minutes and though Aldershot battled back, coming close through Tim Sills, Lee Charles and Jamie Gosling, Hednesford extended their lead in the 69th minute through Jordan King.

The second legs will be played on Saturday 03 April, kick-off 3pm, with the overall winners to be awarded £16,000 each in prize money by The FA and a place in the final at Aston Villa FC on Sunday 23 May.