Lee Edmondson, short of match practice of late and Jonny Bownes, still not fully fit after a recent lay off, were both promoted from the bench to fill the void and, it must be said, neither of them let anybody down as the pair of them both put in a gutsy performance.
This left the Colliery with just two of the younger players in the squad, Matt Smith and Makenzie Tomlinson, plus goalkeeper Steve Wibberley, on the bench to provide cover
Harworth started the game strongly and the opening exchanges seemed to indicate that tonight's Pete's Patisserie Sheffield & Hallamshire County Senior Football League opposition, would be in for a torrid time.
But as it panned out there wasn't actually very much in it between these two teams, who both compete at Step 7 of the football pyramid, for most of the first half.
The first clear cut chance fell to Ryan Paczkowski, who beat Villa's keeper Tom Duty in a one against one race for the ball, took it round him and looked odds on to open the scoring, but couldn't quite get his foot over the ball and it ended up clearing the crossbar instead of hitting the target.
Tom Walker, who's attitude has been first rate since he's forced his way back into the starting line up, after a brief spell on the sidelines, following on from his second half performance at Sherwood and had another one of those "I'll show you lot what you've been missing" moments on 11 minutes, when he struck a sublime free kick from out on the left wing, that curled into the top right hand corner of the visitors net. Advantage Harworth.
But the expected push to build on the lead never quite came and with Joe Long and Ben Compai combining well in the final third for High Green, the home side had to dig deep to preserve their lead for a while.
Neither side wanted to surrender the obvious incentive of a home tie against Frickley Athletic in the next ground and the tie, became a tight affair, with no quarter given either way up until the break.
In the final minute of the half, both teams had opportunities to score.
Tom Pick battled hard to get goal side of Tom Duty, but his shot from a tight angle ended up in the side netting, while at the other end Ian King fired narrowly over Mark Latham's goal with a twenty five yard free kick.
HT - Harworth 1 v HGV 0 - Everything still to play for.
Tom Pick and Ryan Paczkowski combined well just outside the High Green area, but Joe Briggs was quickly on the scene to clear the danger.
A second goal would've put Harworth in control and the narrow escape geed the visitors up no end and within the space of a couple of minutes, Ben Compai had fired narrowly wide and Mark Latham had to save at close quarters after a telling cross from Tom Burns had picked out Compai yet again.
Just after the hour, young Kenzie Tomlinson came on in place of Gaz Sides. Sides had bust a gut for the cause, as always and I was very surprised to see that A N Other has given him 'the stinker of the match' accolade tonight on the player ratings section on the official club website.
But it's always interesting to see different insights and opinions ... even the ones that I personally disagree with.
Villa had three attempts on goal during a penalty area all hands to the pumps scramble, but Mark Latham and his defence stood firm and from then on in, Harworth cranked their performance up a notch and never looked back.
Matt Smith came on up front in place of Dean Bonser in midfield as the Colliery management tweaked the formation.
Tom Pick was unlucky to see his goalbound effort cleared off the line and moments later unselfishly laid the ball off for Tomlinson who's shot skimmed over the crossbar.
Walker knocked a forward pass from centre midfield into the path of Tom Pick, who used his strength and a burst of pace to leave the visitors defence in his wake, then slotted the ball under Tom Duty who was racing from his line to narrow the angle.
A quality strike.
With a little over five minutes remaining and the Villa defence creaking under a spell of Harworth pressure, Tom Walker belted the ball home from 25 yards. The result was now a foregone conclusion and the Frickley contingent present were on their phones letting their pals in South Elmsall know the news, that the Blues were heading to Bircotes next month.
A tired Villa defence left space for Matt Smith to charge unchallenged through the right hand channel and Tom Duty, who'd actually played very well tonight, could do nothing as 'Denty' bulged the back of the net from 10 yards out.
Tom Pick skinned Villa's left back inside the last minute and dropped a telling cross right under the High Green cross bar, but 'Kenzie' Tomlinson narrowly failed to get a decent touch on it ... a real let off for the visitors, but 5-0 would possibly have been a bit of a cruel margin of defeat for them, given the effort they had put it, especially up until Tom Pick got the Colliery's vital second goal.
Four quality strikes, a cup run, a chance to play against a Northern Premier League side at home in the next round ... 'ave it!
FT - Harworth Colliery 4 v High Green Villa 0
Horrible weather, an infestation of flesh hungry mosquitos, preparations going tits up at the eleventh hour and shovelling dog mess away from the pitch entrance just half a hour before kick off (we're in it for the glamour not the glory y'know) ... but it's nights like this that make it all worthwhile.
Rob Waite
HARWORTH COLLIERY:
Mark Latham, Jordan Hardman, Simon Brewster, James Woodward, Jonny Bownes, Lee Edmondson, Tom Walker, Dean Bonser, Gaz Sides, Ryan Paczkowski, Tom Pick
Subs - Matt Smith, Makenzie Tomlinson, Steve Wibberley (GK)
HIGH GREEN VILLA:
Tom Duty, Joe Briggs, Tom Burns, Taurean Fogherty, Dom Beever, Luke Parkinson, Josh Savage, Joe Littlewood, Ben Compai, Joe Long, Ian KIng
Subs - Dan Foster, Gary Spencer, Peter Roebuck
