Chasetown FC Reserves continued their quest to retain the Staffordshire FA Challenge Cup with a 2-0 win over Staffordshire County Senior League side Wolstanton United.
The first chance of the game fell to Karl Edwards as he controlled a pass from Drew Aiton only to see his 25-yard drive slapped away by keeper Alastair Grainger.
Matthew Wood collected the subsequent short corner and his delivery was met by a Jamie Aiton header which dropped the wrong side of the post.
In reply, Chris Darlington gave the Scholars a scare as he cleverly worked his way through the home defence and fired over.
The hosts then launched a succession of attacks. They were inches from opening their account with Chad Degville-Cross flashing a long-range shot just wide and Craig Deakin having an effort deflected behind.
Wolstanton fought back in hope of an equaliser with left back Anthony Burgess’ lofted shot going over the bar on the half-hour mark.
It took 37 minutes before Chasetown grabbed the lead. Jonathan Gould stole the ball before accelerating away and firing an unstoppable shot from outside the area.
Jack Hulin came close to doubling the Scohlars lead when he headed just over from a Craig Deakin corner and minutes later courageously charged down a Chris Toplass drive at the other end.
The second half started with another offensive by the holders. There was a shiver of apprehension in the visiting defence as Chris Horton cut inside and produced a power drive that Grainger almost fumbled.
The Scholars threatened five minutes later when Tom Brown put Drew Aiton into space, but he was distracted by the keeper to narrowly miss the target.
The hosts were now showing the determination not to relinquish their hold on the trophy. Drew Aiton produced a clever free-kick that landed on the roof of the net and Deakin hit a beauty just over the bar.
Grainger was soon in the thick of it once more as he was needed twice within a minute to prevent Tom Brown striking and then made a stretching save from a Degville-Cross free-kick.
Wolstanton continued to stand firm until three minutes from time when Chasetown came calling again. Degville-Cross stormed down the left to feed the ball into the danger zone which Edwards slid onto, sealing the tie and booking a ticket to the quarter-finals.
Chasetown: Wiggins (c), Deakin, Gould (S Birt), J Aiton (Darby), Hulin, Horton, Degville-Cross, Wood, Edwards, D Aiton, Brown.
