WEMBLEY Way will have to wait until another day to be swamped in the red and black of Highworth Town after the Worthians’ valiant Vase run was brought to an end in the North East this afternoon.

Embarking on a 600-mile round trip, John Fisher’s Hellenic League heroes travelled to Northern League North Shields with dreams of running out at the home of English football on their minds but despite handling the occasion with stoic confidence, they eventually succumbed to two second half strikes as their lofty ambitions were curtailed.

Highworth showed no signs of the early jitters that blighted the start of their performance in last week’s first leg, with the Worthians enjoying a handful of confident spells of possession whilst their hosts struggled to get to grips with the second leg of the tie.

In the early stages, Shields also struggled to take advantage of the swirling wind, which was blowing predominantly in the direction of the Town goal, and it took until past the half-hour mark for either side to threaten.

After Michael McKeown’s shot was deflected over the bar, the Robins midfielder swung in the resulting corner and Gareth Bainbridge failed to connect by inches.

The hosts’ Ben Richardson fired wide from 25 yards but goalscoring opportunities continued to come at a premium, particularly for Fisher’s men as the elements made it nigh on impossible for them to get out of their half.

When they did managed to get the ball down however, the Worthians continued to work the ball around nicely, setting themselves up for an assault on Wembley in the second half.

Brad Clarke hit a dipping effort wide of the mark minutes after the break to set the tone before Jon Davoile made the most of his side’s tailwind, unleashing a scorching long-range effort that had home keeper Michael Robinson scrambling as it arrowed just over the crossbar.

With the wind now behind Highworth, it was their turn to pile on the pressure with long ball after long ball, long throw after the long throw, and when Bohane’s reverse pass sent Callum Parsons racing towards goal, he smacked a left-footed effort over the bar.

Then, the visitors thought they had opened their account when Ryan King’s sublime curling free-kick smacked against the angle of post and bar before being hacked away by a Shields defender.

The Highworth players were up in arms, claiming that the ball had crossed the line, but the officials refused to award a goal and the Robins survived.

Bainbridge fired tamely into the arms of Gary Stevens but on 73 minutes, the Shields striker soon made amends as a corner caused chaos in the area and he fired home from the second ball to send the stands into raptures and a dagger through the hearts of the Worthians’ gallant troops.

Bohane fired a late free-kick into the arms of Robinson but the hosts made sure of their progress late on as the ball bounced off the base of the post after Dean Walker charged down Stevens, Carr drew another save from the Highworth keeper, and Dean Holmes tucked away the rebound to finish off the job.