CHRISTIE Park is the scene for the semi finals on Tuesday 24th February after Lancaster got the win that they should have had last week.

The local derby against Morecambe will no doubt bring huge crowds for the match that decides who will go to Preston North End's ground Deepdale to face Accrington or Southport in the final.

And it was an extremely encouraging performance from an inexperienced side. Several City regulars were cup tied which made the way for Lee Marshall, Stuart Phillips and Mark Cheal.

The first real chance of the game saw City take the lead. Jimmy Graham's long cross was flicked into the bottom corner by captain Jay Flannery.

Chorley fought back and tried to catch City out with several long shots but Mark Thornley was alert as ever and made several good saves.

Blues made it two from a superb solo effort from Mark Dobie. He had the ball on the wing and then took it past one player, ran into the centre and then curled the ball around another defender into the bottom corner of the net.

But Chorley cut their deficit in half seconds later. A free kick from Peter Daley was firmly headed into the net by substitute Peter Thomson.

City held Chorley at bay but a mistake in injury time nearly forced the game into extra time when Mark Thornley fumbled a cross and he was relatively lucky that the ball rolled out for a corner.

Team: Thornley, Phillips, Marshall, Hartley (Leitch 80), Jones, Gelling, Boyd, Flannery (c), Dobie, Cheal, Graham.

Blues have signed a new midfielder on loan from Barrow after losing stalwart player Dean Martin who left last week. Manager Alan Tinsley signed another young ex-Everton player Ged Hennigan from Barrow (Mark Grugel, signed on loan last month, is also an Everton product) on a month's loan. City face Guiesley at home on Saturday.s

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