Warrington Rylands 1 Hebburn Town 0, FA Vase

Elliot Nevitt's winning goal was enough to see off newly-crowed FA Vase holders Hebburn Town, who won the delayed 2019-20 final just five days ago.

They move on to face Walsall Wood in the semi-finals at Gorsey Lane next Saturday, with the winner advancing to the final on May 22.

Listen to the post-match thoughts of Blues manager Dave McNabb below

Here is how Guardian sports writer Matt Turner saw the game...

CAN anybody really bet against this Warrington Rylands side now?

Having reached the last eight of the FA Vase, they were naturally big contenders for Wembley glory.

Now they have dumped out the newly-crowned holders – yet another quirk in this strangest of seasons – can they now be seen as favourites?

All the pre-match talk was of Hebburn Town going back-to-back having won the delayed 2019-20 Vase final five days before travelling to Gorsey Lane.

While there will be those who say the Hornets’ Wembley heroics made this a bridge too far, nothing can be taken away from another gargantuan display from Dave McNabb’s men.

“It was a fantastic performance from start to finish. Every bit of credit goes to the players,” an elated Blues boss said.

“We’ve trained five times since the last game and they have all been chomping at the bit. There was a real zip to training.

“I’ve got so much pride – I’m so happy with what they’ve achieved and they deserve all their success.”

Elliot Nevitt – the powerful focal point of the Rylands attack – proved to be the hero as his impressive finish on the hour mark decided proceedings.

Elliot Nevitt shapes to shoot for the winning goal, plus the celebrations that followed. Pictures by Mark Percy

“That’s what he’s about,” McNabb said of Nevitt.

“I thought it took him a while to get going but once he did, their defenders got a bit frightened whenever he or Ste Milne got on the ball.

“That’s the quality the two of them have got.”

In truth, it was no more than they deserved for a display that was impressively calm and controlled given what was on the line.

Compared to the pivotal role he has played in previous rounds thanks to his penalty shoot-out heroics, keeper Graeme McCall was relatively untroubled apart from a crucial save from Amar Purewal early in the second half.

Skipper Gary Kenny and centre-half partner Rick Smith were oceans of serenity at the back while in midfield, Charlie Doyle buzzed around with seemingly limitless energy.

It was his industry along with first Sam Sheen and later Joe Coveney that set the classy Andy Scarisbrick free to support Nevitt, Stephen Milne and Paul Shanley in attack, with Hebburn struggling to contain the Rylands number eight.

Andy Scarisbrick was a highly impressive performer in the Rylands midfield. Picture by Mark Percy

In the end, it proved too much for the visitors to live with as from the back end of the first half onwards, their energy started to drop.

“There’s positives and negatives to it – we’ve had to wait two weeks having only played two competitive games in four months,” McNabb said.

“I would rather have been in Hebburn’s situation coming in having just won the Vase.

“Winning games of football is the best habit you can have but ultimately, they will have been a bit tired.

“They will have had a party and a drink or two but it wasn’t because of that. They are a fantastic side and we’ve shown that we can be.”

Gary Kenny heads towards goal. Picture by Mark Percy

In truth, Blues on any other day will have been disappointed not to have won by a more handsome margin as they exploited gaping holes when Hebburn pushed men forward.

There had to be moments of alarm, though – the visitors were too good a side to go quietly even when running on empty.

They saved their last burst for deep in injury time but after an almighty goalmouth scramble from a corner, the ball stayed out thanks to some near miraculous Rylands defending.

“Other than when the clock hit 90 minutes, I thought we were quite comfortable defensively.

“We had a few hairy moments in the first half but in the second, I don’t think they caused us many issues.

“Naturally though, you start to drop a little bit more but we defended with our lives.

“With some of the blocks at the end, the lads were celebrating like we had scored a goal.”

With moments like that plus everything else they have been through in this run, one cannot help but feel it is written in the stars for Rylands.

If Wembley is their destiny, they are just 90 short minutes away from realising it.