Marine & Southport one step away from Wembley

Three hundred and thirty six non-league sides entered but only four remain as the Isuzu FA Trophy semi-finals take place on Saturday afternoon.

Two National League North clubs - Marine AFC and Southport - are still in the competition and are just one match away from setting up a Sefton derby showdown at Wembley for the showpiece final on Sunday, 17 May.

Marine, currently 13th in the sixth tier, head south to Wealdstone of the National League.

While Southport, just one place below Marine in National League North, host Southend United, who are currently seventh and just inside the National League play-off places after their heartbreaking play-off final defeat in extra-time by Oldham Athletic at Wembley last June.

Both Merseyside clubs will go into Saturday's semi-finals as underdogs but that hasn't got in their way so far this season.

So, how did we get here?

Five years on from a terrific FA Cup run which saw them host Tottenham Hotspur in the third round, Marine are at it again.

A 2-0 victory over Stocksbridge Park Steels and a 2-1 success against Curzon Ashton saw them safely into the fourth round of this season's FA Trophy.

There, they awaited Gloucester City, a side from the Southern Premier and a team Marine were expected to beat but a goal in the first-half from Sion Spence rocked them.

The Mariners fought back in the second period and grabbed a leveller when James Potter struck to take the game into extra-time and, after the two sides could not be separated, penalties awaited under the lights at Rossett Park.

Two saves from Everton loanee Fraser Barnsley saw Marine progress 4-3 on penalties to set up a showdown in the fifth round against Tamworth of the National League.

A trip to the Lamb Ground is never easy, just ask Spurs fans who saw their side forced into extra-time in last year's FA Cup third round with the National League club already seeing off League One sides Huddersfield Town and Burton Albion before them.

The Mariners battled to earn a 0-0 draw after 120 minutes and once more forced the match to penalties where Barnsley proved himself to be the hero, making another two saves from the spot as Bobby Grant's side marched on.

Up against another National League side, Woking, Marine went into the quarter-finals as underdogs once more.

Finlay Sinclair-Smith's first-time volley before half-time was enough for a 1-0 victory, however, and with a flurry of late saves from Barnsley, the Mariners clung on to set up a semi-final tie against a third National League side in succession, Wealdstone, who are coming off the back of three league defeats in a row.

The Mariners have never appeared at Wembley - last reaching this stage of the competition in 1992 - and and they may not have a better opportunity of doing so for another 34 years.

Southport is famous for its amusement park, and it has certainly been a roller-coaster ride to get to this stage of the competition.

In the second round, the Sandgrounders defeated Buxton - themselves on an impressive run in The FA Cup at time - 3-2 at The Silverlands with winger Danny Lloyd scoring a double either side of half-time.

A 3-1 victory at home to Leek Town took Southport to National League side Eastleigh for a fourth round tie in January.

Despite fielding a makeshift team and head coach Neil Danns only being able to name four out of a possible seven substitutes, his men comfortably saw off the Spitfires 2-0 with goals from Teddy Lavelle and Malakai McKenzie.

That led to them being drawn against local rivals AFC Fylde away from home in the last 16.

No problems for Danns' men, however. A 1-0 win - secured by an 86th minute strike from defender Lavelle - meant they advanced to the quarter-finals for the first time since 2013 where they would host Yeovil Town.

Their run looked to be coming to an end when Yeovil's James Daly rounded Southport's on-loan keeper George Pickford before giving The Glovers a half-time lead at Southport's Haig Avenue.

But Southport's resilience and quality was on show once more when they battled back to level in the second period and it was Lavelle who struck again, firing home a fantastic effort from outside the box into the top corner with two minutes of normal time to go to take the match into extra-time.

After 30 extra minutes without a goal, the game was taken to penalties, and Yeovil's Aaron Jarvis and Jake Wannell missed their attempts from 12 yards before Lloyd fired home the winning penalty to spark wild scenes of jubilation.

With just one match away from Wembley - Southport will go into Saturday's semi-final confident that they can make Southend their third National League scalp.

Both semi-final ties will take place at 15:00 GMT.