South Shields 4 Coleshill Town 0: Mariners rout seals Wembley spot

South Shields stormed into the FA Vase Final with a 4-0 win over Coleshill Town.
Goalscorer Julio Arca.Goalscorer Julio Arca.
Goalscorer Julio Arca.

At a packed Mariners Park, Shields sealed a first trip to Wembley, on May 21, with a 6-1 aggregate win.

It will be a first visit for Julio Arca too and the Argentinian was the catalyst for the win with a stunning opener, before Gavin Cogdon added a second and Carl Finnigan and David Foley finished the job late on.

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With the first half looking like it would end goalless, Arca stepped up.

Cogdon broke down the right and when his cross fell 20 yards out, Arca unleashed a screamer with his left foot which gave Paul Hathaway no chance.

It was no more than the Mariners deserved. They'd been the better side without managing to test Hathaway too much.

Andrew Stephenson, hero of the first leg, hit the crossbar with an early effort while after the half hour, Cogdon missed his kick with the goal gaping after David Foley's pull-back.

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As they were in the first leg though, Shields were indebted to Liam Connell, who pulled off a great 35th minute save to deny Dean Rathbone.

Other than that, he had little to do as Shields controlled the game and put the game out of Coleshill's reach on 62 minutes with a fine finish by Cogdon.

The little striker made up for his earlier miss by racing onto Robert Briggs' through ball, drawing Hathaway and coolly lifting it over him into the net.

It was 3-0 late on when substitute Finnigan forced home from close range before David Foley put the icing on the cake with a late fourth.

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It sent Mariners Park into ecstasy and the celebrations were replicated at full-time as the Shields players were mobbed by the majority of the record 3,464 crowd.

Shields: Connell, Baxter, Lough, Morse, Shaw, Arca, Briggs, Phillips (Smith), Stephenson (Nicholson), Cogdon (Finnigan), Foley. Not used: Parkin, Storey.