Hednesford Town v Aldershot Town 1-1
Hednesford Town win 3-1 on aggregate
Carlsberg Man of the Tie – Hednesford Town’s Mark Danks

Canvey Island v Telford United 2-2 aet
Canvey Island won 2-2 aet on aggregate and 4-2 on penalties
Carlsberg Man of the Tie – Lee Boylan

The Final of this season’s FA Trophy, in partnership with Carlsberg, will be between two sides from outside the Conference for a second consecutive season.

Hednesford Town, struggling in the Southern League Premier Division, and Canvey Island, running away with the Isthmian League Premier Division, overcame the might of Aldershot Town and Telford United to book their place in the final at Villa Park.

In the second leg in Staffordshire, both sides went down to ten men in a breathless second half and Aldershot Town lost their goalkeeper in the final minutes as they fought to take the lead.

But the drama really unfolded at Canvey Island where the tie was decided on penalties and Telford United suffered the heartbreak of missing two all-important kicks from the mark.

There were scenes of great celebration at Keys Park where a crowd of 2,094 watched underdogs Hednesford Town reach the final for the first time in their history.

Hednesford Town, whose record in the competition had been the Third Round until this season, built on their two-goal advantage from the first leg in the ninth minute with a superb strike from Anthony Maguire.

The Pitmen held on to their 1-0 lead in the first half and Mark Danks, who scored in the first leg last weekend, broke free on several occasions but failed to grab another.

His best chance came in the 37th minute when the lively striker had a one-on-one with Aldershot keeper Nikki Bull only to see his shot go just wide of the post.

At the start of the second half, Aldershot manager Terry Brown made the first of three substitutions, bringing on Tim Sills for Jamie Gosling, a recent signing from former FA Trophy winners Yeovil Town.

In the opening ten minutes of the second half, there were several goalmouth scrambles as Aldershot battled for an equaliser, but Hednesford keeper Ryan Young kept them out.

In the 58th minute, Aldershot’s Aaron McLean came on for Will Antwi. Three minutes later, another chance fell to Aldershot but the attempt on goal from Sills was safely gathered by Young.

Hednesford immediately went down to ten men when goalscorer Maguire was sent off for a second bookable offence.

In the 67th minute, Aldershot made another substitution bringing on Dominic Sterling for Ray Warburton.

Substitute McLean was brought down by Young five minutes later. Young was shown the yellow card and Aldershot’s Roscoe D’Sane slotted the penalty into the back of the net to keep the game alive.

The final quarter was action-packed as both sides fought to gain the upper hand. In the 76th minute, Aldershot’s Adam Miller was shown the red card.

In the dying minutes of normal time, Bull came up for two corners and a free kick. Within seconds, the keeper was sent off for foul and abusive language.

With Aldershot down to nine men, hopes of winning the leg in the four minutes of added time faded fast and Hednesford manager Barry Powell leapt off his dug-out seat when the final whistle was blown.

Meanwhile, Brown was left to contemplate a third defeat in an FA Trophy semi-final, having lost as a player with Slough and as a coach with Wokingham.

Hednesford’s hopes of an-all Midlands final with Telford United were dashed by Jeff King’s Canvey Island, who won The FA Trophy in 2001 when the final was staged at Villa Park for the first time.

It was a terrific cup tie with nothing to separate the two sides after 120 minutes of play.

Telford’s Michael Blackwood opened the scoring in the 40th minute, but Canvey’s Lee Boylan replied in the 52nd minute to make it all-square.

The game went into extra time and it was Boylan who netted the first goal in the 108th minute to make it 2-1.

Seven minutes later and Scott Green struck one home for Telford to make the scoreline 2-2, forcing the leg to be decided on by penalties.

Chris Murphy and Neil Howarth scored from the penalty mark for Telford, but the first and final chances were both missed.

Canvey, meanwhile, scored all four thanks to Junior McDougal, Jeff Minton, Lee Boylan and Gavin Cowan.

Hat-trick hero Boylan was presented with the Carlsberg Man of the Tie Award.

Canvey Island can now look forward to their second FA Trophy final having prevented Telford United from reaching a historic sixth final in the season that the competition celebrates its 35th anniversary.

Hednesford Town and Canvey Island will be awarded £16,000 each in prize money by The FA .

The Final will be at Aston Villa FC on Sunday, May 23, when the winner will receive £50,000.