Nantwich Town reached the final of the Cheshire Senior Cup and a date with Crewe Alexandra as they beat Warrington Town 5-3 on penalties at the Weaver Stadium.
The game finished 0-0 after extra time, with neither team able to grab a winner.
Phil Parkinson signalled his intent by naming a side that contained just two changes from the team that started against Coalville Town.
Hancock returned from injury while Ryan Brooke returned up front in place of Tom Peers.
Warrington left recent goalscoring sensation Ruben Jerome out of the squad, with centre back James McCarten also missing out.
The game was a slow burner in the first half, with chances mostly pot shots from range.
Warrington started the brightest, Lewis Codling the first to shoot on goal, well wide.
The Dabbers started under the cosh and struggled to make any inroads going forward.
Efforts from distance was a growing theme as both defence remained steadfast.
Sean Williams and Scott Harries both had chances for the away side, but didn’t test Gyollai.
Johnston had the first sight of goal for the Dabbers as he cut inside on the left and dragged an attempt wide of the near post.
Josh Hancock then found Andy White who cut inside and his drilled shot on goal was blocked by John Shaw.
The Dabbers went close to going in front when Ibou Touray beat several defenders before putting a low cross into the box.
Hancock met the ball, but his side footed effort was superbly saved by McMillan.
Parkinson made a change at half time, bringing off Sean Cooke for Wayne Riley.
The first chance of the 2nd half went to the Dabbers, as Bell picked up the ball in the box and shot on goal which McMillan held well.
Then Johnston beat several men on the left wing, cut into the box and his shot was blocked for a corner.
From the corner, Hancock flicked the header on goal, but it deflected over for another corner.
Warrington’s Josh Askew forced Nantwich into some hasty defending, with both Harrison and Stair having to make blocks and clearances.
Parkinson brought on Steve Jones for Hancock on the hour.
The Dabbers built some pressure as they linked some moves together.
Ben Harrison went on a trademark mazy runs into the Yellows half and laid the ball off to Johnston.
His cross into the box was met by Brooke, who headed over.
The Dabbers made their final change as Bell came off for Tom Peers.
Johnston was continuing to cause problems and saw a goalbound shot blocked by Shaw.
There were strong shouts for handball against Shaw, but the referee wasn’t interested.
Jones then almost pounced on a loose back pass from Shaw to McMillan, but he couldn’t get the ball round the keeper and the chance came and went.
Johnston had the final chance of the 90 minutes when his low shot was well saved by McMillan.
The Dabbers’ best chance of the game came four minutes into extra time.
Jones played in Brooke one-on-one but could only stab straight at McMillan.
Minutes later Peers broke clear of the Warrington defence, and Evan Gumbs made what looked to be a great back track and tackle, but the referee blew for a foul on the edge of the area.
He showed Gumbs a yellow card, and from the free kick, Peers drilled just wide.
In the 2nd half, the Dabbers best chance came when Brooke won the ball on the right hand side of the Warrington box.
His pull back to a wide open Peers was off the mark though and the opportunity went begging.
Both defences held firm to force the tie to penalties.
Harrison scored the Dabbers’ first, smashing it into the bottom corner.
The Yellows first taker Danny Ventre skied his over and it gave the Dabbers the early advantage.
Six more successful penalties in succession put the Dabbers 4-3 after four each.
Brooke, Johnston and White scored for Nantwich with Michael Monaghan, Danny Hattersley and Dylan Vassallo netted for the visitors.
Touray took the final Dabbers penalty and sent McMillan the wrong way to make it five perfect spot-kicks to send Nantwich through to the final with their League Two neighbours.
Nantwich Town: Dan Gyollai, Andy White, Ibou Touray, Joel Stair, Ben Harrison, Sam Hall(c), John Johnston, Matt Bell (Tom Peers, 82), Ryan Brooke, Sean Cooke (Wayne Riley, 45), Josh Hancock (Steve Jones, 60). Unused subs: Joe Mwasile, Troy Bourne
(pics courtesy of Jonathan White)
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