TRAFFORD battled through to the semi-final of the Manchester Premier Cup on Tuesday night with a hard fought 3-2 victory at Abbey Hey.

The Shawe View men forged ahead in the 37th minute when Brian Summerskill cracked a low drive from 20 yards that Ross Heywood could only parry and Andy Keogh followed up to tap home.

The hosts proved to be tenacious opponents throughout and they equalised in the 67th minute when slack marking allowed David Young to power a header past Grant Shenton following a right-wing corner.

However, within two minutes Trafford were back in front when a long ball out of defence by Louis Corrigan allowed Keogh to skip past Heywood and guide the ball into the empty net.

In the 82nd minute Aaron Burns made it 3-1 with a close-range volley after Steve Mason had flicked on a Keil O’Brien cross and the tie appeared to be over.

However, the spirited hosts thought differently and in the 90th minute Peter Watling was allowed too much space to drill his shot into the far corner from 20 yards.

Despite a late flurry, Trafford held on to their lead and now face a semi-final tie at Droylsden in February.

Three days earlier, Tom Baker's side made it 10 games unbeaten and moved up to sixth in Evo-Stik North with a 4-0 home win against Ossett Town.

There was little sign of the rout to come as the visitors dominated the opening stages but Trafford edged ahead in the 30th minute when James Dean played a superb defence-splitting pass into the path of Chris Palmer, who planted the ball into the bottom corner from the edge of the penalty area.

The game was put out of sight with two goals in the space of five minutes in the second half with Dean once again the provider, flicking the ball into the path of Burns who coolly placed it past the advancing Leigh Overton, and then crossing from the right for Palmer to head gleefully home at the far post.

Jack Dorner curled a shot inches wide in the 74th minute and eight minutes later saw his drive parried by Overton with substitute Keogh following up to force home the rebound and make it 4-0.

A magnificent performance by Baker’s side was tarnished slightly in the dying seconds when Ossett striker Danny South caught O’Brien with a nasty and unnecessary challenge from behind. O’Brien retaliated and both players were sent off.

On Saturday, Trafford return to league action with a trip to Hyde United, kick off 3pm.