TERRY Anderson praised his ‘brave’ Coventry United side after the Red and Greens reached the FA Vase quarter-finals for the first time in their history.
United won 2-1 against former winners North Shields as goals from Charlie Faulkner and Nehemia Zazi sealed Coventry’s place in the last eight at Butts Park Arena.
Coventry overcame their fellow Step Five opponents to move one step closer to Wembley.
And United boss Anderson insists the Red and Greens have as good of a chance of winning the FA Trophy as any of the sides left in the competition.
Anderson said: “It was a battling performance. North Shields were favourites for a reason, they put us to the sword in the second half and we had to stick in.
“We’ve been brave, all the lads have worked their socks off. I’m over the moon, I’m absolutely buzzing.
“It was a team performance, every single one of them was absolutely top drawer.
“We’ve got as a good a chance as anybody [of winning it].”
United broke the deadlock on 28 minutes when Faulkner pressured a North Shields defender into an error and curled a shot past Callum Elliott from 15-yards out.
Coventry doubled their lead on 79 minutes when substitute Zazi fired a loose ball into the top-right corner from 12-yards out with the referee playing advantage for a foul on Faulkner in the box.
North Shields halved the deficit nine minutes into injury time as Ben Sampson squeezed a shot past Dan Moore from the left edge of the six-yard box.
However, the visitors had no time left to stage a comeback as United continued their fairytale run in the competition.
Assistant manager, Luke Morton added: “It was a whole club effort. It’s massive to go through against North Shields who put it on us.
“We were brilliant in the first half and soaked up a lot of pressure in the second half.
“Charlie has been brilliant for us ever since he’s come back from his injury.
“He gives everything on the pitch all the time and if a anyone deserved a goal it was Charlie Faulkner.”
Coventry will play either Haywards Heath Town or AFC Stoneham in the quarter-finals of the competition on Saturday, February 28.
