The home town hero who fired Whitchurch Alport to FA Vase quarter finals

And Alex Hughes admits he was left pinching himself after inspiring his side to the most dramatic of victories over Coventry Sphinx.

After hosts Sphinx opened the scoring early – Hughes managed to drag his side back on level terms.

But a red card for George Carpenter on the half-hour mark gave Alport a mountain to climb.

And with 20 minutes remaining, the north Shropshire side were 3-1 down and heading out the competition.

Incredibly, though, Hughes – who first began playing for the club when he was seven – went on to net a late brace to send the tie to penalties.

And he then slotted home the winning spot-kick to put his team within two wins of an historic trip to Wembley.

“In the second half it all came together for us,” Hughes said. “I couldn’t believe what I saw in the first half – I’ve never seen us perform like that before, we made mistakes that aren’t us.

“But the second half, I can’t really remember it now to be honest it was just frantic, everything clicked and we played like we had been before. It was crazy.

“We had such a good following there, four coach loads I think in full voice when we were 3-1 down and they got us going.

“Looking back I can’t remember the penalty either, I’ve seen pictures since and it was madness.

“I live really close to the ground, so it is very special for me.

“I’ve had interest from clubs higher up which is nice, but it puts me off my game a bit, I don’t like being centre of attention.

“I like it here, I’m a local lad, I’ve got two children and recently got married, so I am settled here.”

Hughes said he was particularly pleased to get the win for manager Luke Goddard.

“Luke is a good friend of mine, he has put faith in me and I am repaying him,” he continued. “Now we need to keep grounded, Wembley is in the back of your mind as we’ve never been this far in the competition, and we thought on Saturday at 3-1 it was over.

“So we can’t get too confident, we just need to keep doing what we have been doing.”

On his winning penalty, Hughes added: “It’s a dead ball, you should score from there so I don’t really feel the pressure if I am honest and I didn’t then.”

While Alport were in cup action on Saturday, Haughmond and Shifnal Town both continued their campaigns in the Midland League Premier Division.

But it proved to be a disappointing weekend for both sides.

Haughmond fell to a 3-0 defeat at home to Lichfield City.

While Shifnal also lost in front of their own supports after they were beaten 2-0 by Racing Club Warwick.

In Midland League Division One, AFC Bridgnorth played out a 2-2 draw with league leaders Atherstone Town at Crown Meadow.

Reinaldo Forbes and Jeff Agyeman got the goals for the Shropshire side.

In North West Counties League Division One South, Ellesmere Rangers fell to a 3-1 defeat against Stockport Town despite taking the lead through Jordan Davies.

St Martins’ miserable campaign continued as they were beaten 5-0 by Cheadle Town.