It will be Rushall Olympic and not Chasetown FC who progress to the Staffordshire Senior Cup Final.
The Pics have somewhat of an ‘Indian Sign’ over their neighbours of late, having won the nine previous meetings between the two sides and the last six games at the Scholars Ground.
After an end-to-end start it was the visitors who fashioned out the two best chances, first forcing Ryan Price into a low save and then the visitors thought they’d scored, only to see the ball cleared off the line and the rebound brilliantly kept out by the former Rushall keeper.
Chasetown must have thought luck was on their side with those near misses, but it was the Pics who took the lead in the 33rd minute. A long through ball saw Jack Farmer and Price converge on the ball, but when the defender tried to cushion a header back, Ahmed Obeng nipped in to get enough of a touch to send the ball rolling into the unguarded net.
The home side were never out of the tie in the first half and levelled in first half stoppage time. Nick Wellecomme beat the offside trap and crossed to the far post where Simon Brown teed up Theo Robinson with a cushioned header. Robinson’s attempted half volley fell into the path of Wellecomme who finished with aplomb into Chris Gemmell’s bottom left hand corner.
Robinson was a whisker away from giving Chasetown the lead early in the second half from close range, only to see his effort come back off the upright.
With thoughts turning to extra-time, Rushall regained the lead in the 75th minute. Obeng put a cross into the box and substitute Dave Walker poached from close range to slip the ball beyond Price.
It was game over five minutes later when a nice piece of skill from Obeng took him past his defender before drilling home the ball from a tight angle to give the visitors some daylight.
Craig Harris’ men threw everything they had at Rushall in the last ten minutes, forcing a succession of corners which put the away side under a spell of pressure. However, Gemmell remained relatively untroubled and the Pics go on to meet the Pitmen in the final at Vale Park in just over two weeks’ time.
Chasetown: Price, Farmer, Jackson (G Downes, 16 mins), Slater, Tesfa Robinson, Teesdale, Brown, Westwood, Wellecomme, Sullivan (Hay, 81 mins), Theo Robinson (Gould, 64 mins). Subs not used: Butler, Kisiel.
Rushall Olympic: Gemmell, K Haynes, J Haynes (Beckett, 72 mins), Smith, Spittle, L Downes, Thompson, Landell, Islam (Dovey, 82 mins), Obeng, Stephens (Walker, 63 mins).
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