Boro emerged victorious from a thrilling quarter-final with a battling display that was mixed with some superb counter-attacking football. Title chasers Tennis started the better and were unfortunate not to take the lead when a cross was headed onto the post by their big centre-forward. The visitor's main threat was coming form the flanks as Boro struggled to cope with their trickery although the final ball was not clinical enough and Boro soon made them pay. A neat move in midfield resulted in Ross Deegan collecting the ball before slotting through Adam Chandler who took the ball in his stride superbly and stroked home coolly to open the scoring. Within five minutes it was two as Deegan ran onto a cutting-edge ball from Joe O'Brien that the goalkeeper looked favourite to reach but Deegan somehow poked it past him across the goalmouth and the waiting Phil Bull was first to the loose ball to smash the home side further clear. But Boro never do things the easy way and as talk surfaced of getting in at half time with the two-goal cushion in-store, trouble occurred. From a dangerous corner the Tennis number 29 rose unmarked to head home at the back post and you could sense the fight-back was nailed-on after the break. Tennis came out the traps again quicker and should have levelled when the Tennis left-winger rounded Ian Humphries and fortunately skied his shot over the bar with 3 Boro defenders on the line. Phil Bull then came within a whisker of scoring at the other end when O'Brien's cross was instantly smashed onto the outside of the post leaving no time for anybody to react had it been a foot to the right. Boro's gradual emergence in the match came to the fore when Deegan was delightfully put through by Bull and homed in on the keeper before rounding him and scoring from a tight-angle. It was Deegans first goal since returning to the club in November and nobody deserved it more. Tennis, though were straight back in the game within 5 minutes as a nice move put through the right-winger and he smashed a shot low that found its way under Humphries with too much power. But the home sides response was excellent, racking up numerous chances for a fourth. Deegan went on a solo run and from 12 yards he smashed a shot off the bar with the keeper beaten. Then Phil Bull was put clean through by the ever dangerous James Andy but dragged his shot wide and when Ryan Butt fluffed the big chance soon after you wondered if Boro were going to win. O'Brien's shot was parried out and Butt homed in with a defender in close proximity but sent his acrobatic volley just over from 5 yards. Dangerous Tennis had Boro camped in for the final minutes without creating a clear-cut opportunity and again on the break Andy waltzed his way past 3 defenders in injury-time and hit an unstoppable strike past the goalkeeper that hit the bar, post and bounced a foot over the line only for the referee whom was standing in line with the incident to wave play on. Trip to specsavers being booked as we speak but seconds after he blew and Boro were through to their first semi-final for around 7 years where they play Sutton Knights from Division 5.
