A record Paycare Ground attendance of 1084 saw Darlaston edge home in extra time after a titanic struggle against Black Country neighbours Dudley Town. Both sets of supporters were an absolute credit to their club in what was far and away the biggest attendance in the competition.

Chairman and Man of the Match last night Neil Chambers currently unable to walk with both legs as stiff as a board takes a light-hearted look from his sick bed at last night's game and looks forward to tonight' game.

Chambers reflected "Bloody marvellous we have our best attendance in 5 seasons, and we don't make a single penny out of it. To cap it all we will probably have to pay Gil's fine as he is a pensioner and always going on about how he fought in the war for us as well as pleading poverty. Whilst we will pay it for him, he will need to pay it back when he gets his winter fuel allowance, he cannot be allowed to do what he did and get away with it. If he gets cold during the winter, then so be it".

The game was marred by the sending off of 77-year-old keeper Gil "The Cat" Preece near the end of normal time meaning we were forced into playing the whole of extra time with 10 men. Preece was sent off for leaving the field of play and then re-entering without the referees permission.

In a heated post-match press conference, Preece justified his actions by saying " When you get to my age you need more toilet breaks than the youngsters and I just had to go for a pee hoping I wouldn't be missed. Whilst in the dressing room I took the opportunity to change into my slippers as my bunions were killing me and I couldn't continue in my new boots borrowed from a 94-year-old neighbour. I had hoped that my cat-like features would mean I could leave and get back unnoticed. Unfortunately, the referee noticed my slippers and sent me off".

After an exhausting last-ditch victory manager Andy Parkes commented " Whilst I am delighted with the win I am disgusted with Gil and he will never play for me again. He could've cost us the game. His slippers were horrendous they were pink and fluffy and if he had not been sent off, he would have been escorted off by the fashion police. I thought the front two of Anton Allen and Garry Hale were absolutely useless and I now know why they have only scored 1 goal between them in 977 games. They will not be in my squad tonight and both have been put on the transfer list.

The shining light last night was the performance of twin centre halves Chairman Neil Chambers. Parkes said " He was much better than I thought. The Dudley forwards could not get past him. By the time they managed to get around his considerable bulk they were absolutely knackered. However, the good news is that every time he went to ground, he rolled and flattened the pitch."

However, Parkes had mixed news this morning about the rest of the squad. Ryan Jones kids have phoned to say that he did his homework and passed his test and he will not need to be home schooled this evening so he will be available to play. Unfortunately, despite spending four hours on their appearance Reis Nadat and Tyrone Clarke O'Connell both found a hair out of place and will need to start all over again so will not be available for tonight's game.

As long as they do their chores today youngsters Alex Groucott and Kyle Hodgkinson will both be available after completing their grounding for one night.

Finally, I can report good progress on Leon "The Legend" Taylor's injury. Our physio Mike Howe told me "that it was probably the worst case of a broken fingernail he has seen in more than 20 years of being a paramedic and physio. However, Taylor is making progress and whilst his arm is in a sling and he is currently using a wheelchair he has stopped moaning about it and we expect him to be available for selection before the start of next season".

Tonight, is another tough game against Premier Division opposition and I would urge another big Darlaston vote in an attempt to reach our second semi-final this season.