Jansen's praise for cup finalists

The Magpies defeated a spirited Colne – of the North West Counties Premier Division – thanks to three second-half goals from Darren Stephenson, Keiran Charnock and Jordan Connerton.

The 3-0 semi-final win at LFA headquarters means Chorley will attempt to win the prestigious competition for a record 17th time. The final will be against either Lancaster City or Padiham – who face each other next week – at Bolton’s Macron Stadium.

Colne – who are riding high in their respective division – gave Chorley plenty to think about in a goalless first half.

But Jansen’s men – who are three divisions above the Reds in the football pyramid – finally made their superiority count, helped by a quick goal to ease any nerves shortly after the interval.

“They are two or three divisions below us and they are horrible games to play in, because they are potential banana skins,” said Jansen.

“We were expected to win and anything else is a failure. We had a few nerves because it could be a giant-killing, but the lads conducted themselves well, especially second half.

“It was great to get that first goal and we went on from there.

“It kind of ruined their game-plan, because they had to come out and try to nick a goal back and when they did that, we ended up getting goals two and three.”

Jansen will now refocus his players on this weekend’s National League North clash against Worcester City at Victory Park.

Jansen said: “We played them at their place but I think they have made quite a few changes since we played them – we got a good result down there.

“We will do our due diligence – look at the match reports and assess how we will go about getting a result and hopefully carry on this winning streak.”

Jansen is hopeful of bringing someone in before the weekend and was left frustrated when one potential deal fell through.

One positive for the Magpies is the return from injury 
of James Dean ahead of schedule.

The striker came on as a second-half substitute on Wednesday night.