NORTH Shields manager Graham Fenton was delighted to leave Wiltshire with a first-leg lead, but felt his side were somewhat fortunate to win 1-0 at The Elms.

The visitors scored their winner when Dean Holmes pounced on a rebound to score from close range, but it was a goal that came against the run of play in the second half.

Highworth stopper Gary Stevens had been forced into serious action just once in the first half, in a passage of play that also saw the ball cleared off the line, but after the break it was the Worthians who made the running.

Callum Parsons, twice, and Dan Drewett both had efforts cleared off the line in the second half. Unfortunately the Hellenic side could not get their goal and Shields’ boss Fenton was admitted afterwards his side enjoyed a fair share of luck.

“They were a threat in the second half, but I thought the lads dug in,” he said. “We count ourselves a little bit fortunate to be 1-0 ahead, but the lads worked their socks off and they deserved it.

“That might be the best thing that’s happened to us – that we’ve almost got away with a 1-0 win. We go into next week’s game knowing that Highworth can cause us problems and we’ve got to be better.

“We’ve got to be better in an offensive capacity – we weren’t at our best – we’ll do a bit of training this week and put that right.”

Fenton was comforted to be returning to North East, safe in the knowledge that Highworth have now got to take the same long road next week.

“They’ve now got the journey next week,” he added. “They’ve got to stay out of their own beds like we’ve had to do this week. I’ve had to do it plenty of times and I know it’s not easy as everybody thinks.”