NORTHWICH Victoria and 1874 Northwich are through to the Midland League Premier Division play-offs final next weekend.
Vics succeeded in the midlands through a penalty shoot-out after their semi-final at AFC Wolverhampton City finished 1-1.
1874 ended Winsford United’s promotion hopes 4-2 at Barton Stadium to book their place in the final for the second year on the spin.
Vics, who finished second in the table, will host 1874 in the winner-take-all showdown at the Apec Taxis Stadium in Runcorn next Saturday, kick-off 3pm.
Blues got off to a great start in a thrilling Mid Cheshire ‘derby’ in front of 828 supporters, opening the scoring after six minutes.
Ollie Pope, back in the side after a six-match absence, delivered the perfect pass across the face of the goal for Niza Chilufya to fire home.
1874 put themselves back on level terms out of the blue. Nothing seemed to be brewing and then Dale Jennings let rip with a great strike from distance after 39 minutes.
Blues’ leading marksman Pope then showed once again that his religion is scoring goals, combining impactfully with Chilufya again.
The Zambian pulled the ball back for Pope to cut inside and wallop the ball home for his 24th goal of the season in the 59th minute.
Instantly 1874 equalised with a goal hero of their own, Mike Hayes, volleying home at the far post.
Greens then forged ahead for the first time with Hayes the man on target again, this time with a bullet header from Matt Woolley’s 70th-minute free-kick.
Another 29 minutes passed before John McGrath hit Winsford on the counter and with the home goalkeeper backtracking from the attack the ball was slid into an empty net to wrap up the contest.
It was a busy last five minutes for McGrath, who collected a yellow card six minutes into added time and then a second one in the 111th minute.
1874 manager Chris Herbert said: "I thought first half, probably Winsford edged it with the way they played. They're very direct and I thought we coped very well apart from the goal.
"Second half I thought we were well on top and I think the football showed through in the end."
Over in the midlands, AFC Wolverhampton City went in front against Northwich Victoria.
Kai Houlihan produced a tidy finish in the 23rd minute and he would have doubled the advantage three minutes later if it hadn’t been for Vics keeper Andre Mendes tipping his effort over the bar after he had run through on goal.
And another brilliant save again denied the dangerous Houlihan’s goal-bound header that was again pushed over the bar shortly before half-time.
That one-goal lead survived until nine minutes from time when Vics’ leveller led to the match finishing all-square and a penalty shoot-out to determine the winners was needed.
Mendes saved Wolves’ opener from the spot and, with no other misses, the Brazilian proved to be Vics’ hero, although substitute Kieran Hamm showed nerves of steel to bury Vics’ all-important fifth spot kick.
Meanwhile, in Northern Premier League West, Witton Albion were defeated 4-1 in front of a 7,052 crowd at league leaders Bury FC.
Albion took the lead in the 18th minute through Joel Bembo Leta but trailed by half-time as Bury responded through Owen Robinson (31mins) and James Neil (41) before putting the game to bed in the second half thanks to Rustam Stepans (65) and Oscar Threlkeld (90+5).
"It was just one of those games where we were beaten by the better side," said Witton manager Ben Harrison.
"They're up there and maybe will win the league next week.
"The disappointing thing for me, not right now, was that the goals we conceded were so poor especially after we went 1-0 up and we did so well in that 20 to 25 minutes.
"Individual mistake for the first one and then from a set-piece we conceded two goals and they looked threatening all game at set-pieces yet we usually deal with them ok.
"We tried, we huffed and puffed, but all credit to Bury really. They were athletic, fast and they're up there for a reason."
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