LOWER Stratton manager Alan Spring is just about daring to dream of another appearance in the final of the Swindon Advertiser Cup after his side became the first team to book their place in the semi-finals last weekend.

Spring’s side reached the final of the competition last term at Swindon Supermarine’s Webb’s Wood Stadium, where they were beaten 2-1 by Avtar Construction, and on Saturday, a 3-1 extra-time triumph over Chiseldon saw them progress through to the quarter-finals.

After Gavin Kay’s goal was cancelled out by Tom Davis to force an extra 30 minutes, Jack Doult and Diogo Casiniro notched to seal the tie for Lower Stratton.

“We’ve played Chiseldon plenty of times over the years and they’ve always been competitive,” said Spring.

“The side that they had on Saturday didn’t really seem to reflect where they are in their league (third-from-bottom in Division One). They got the equaliser quite late in the second half and also hit the crossbar but luckily for us, the ball bounced outwards, rather than inwards.

“But I think they put everything into the 90 minutes and we managed to put pressure on them in extra-time and get two goals.

“It would be great to get to the final again but there are a lot of possibilities for who we could get in the next round, with teams like Tawny Owl still in there.

“But we’re through and we’re looking forward to the next round.”

Tawny Owl and Village Inn’s Advertiser Cup quarter-final clash was postponed but in the George Thomas/Don Rogers Cup, Core Construction and DJC Marlborough booked their respective semi-final slots.

Construction survived seeing a 4-0 lead cut back to 4-3 as they overcame Moredon whilst Michael Robinson, Kevin May and Scott Jones netted as Marlborough beat Sport 4 Pinehurst 3-1.

The only league fixture of the weekend saw North Swindon beat winless R&D United 6-3, with Kray Dunn, Jason Hodson, Ryan Baxter and Paul Turner on target for the victors, in addition to two United own goals.