The possibility of a second all-Northern League FA Vase Final remains alive after Consett and Hebburn Town were kept apart in the Monday’s semi-final draw.
Consett will play their outstanding quarter-final tie at Atherstone Town on Saturday knowing that the winners will face a two-legged semi-final against Western League Premier Division side Bitton.
If they are successful in progressing into the last four of the competition this weekend, the Steelmen will travel to South Gloucestershire for the first leg of their semi-final on Saturday 21st March – with the second leg taking place at Belle View seven days later.
Hebburn Town will face the winners of the other outstanding quarter-final between Southern Counties East League club Corinthian and Spartan South Midland League side Leighton Town for the right to walk out at Wembley.
And just like Consett, the Hornets will face an away day in the first leg before returning to the North East to hopefully secure a place in the final.
Consett manager Terry Mitchell refused to look too far beyond Saturday’s visit to Atherstone – but did admit that he was excited to see his side in the semi-final draw.
He told The Chronicle: “We can’t look too far ahead but we know exactly what we need to do now.
“It’s exciting to be in the draw and to hear our name in the draw for the semi-final.
“We are delighted to miss Hebburn Town because that means there is still a chance of a North East final.
“The home game on the second leg is a big boost too because we will know what we have to do on our home pitch.
“But we can’t look beyond what is a very, very tough game on Saturday.”
Hebburn manager Kevin Bolam echoed Mitchell’s thoughts on the possibility of a North East final as he revealed his plans to gather information on his side’s semi-final opponents.
He said: “We will see what happens on Saturday and then start our homework on the side that gets through.
“Once Saturday is out of the way we will work on finding out a little bit about our opponents.
“I think in a perfect world we would like to play Consett at Wembley, rather than have one of us have to go out in the semi-final.
“Hopefully that can happen now, but there is a lot to happen and a lot of results have to be secured before that can happen.”
