The Blues led twice in regular time through Prestyn Moore and Andrew Wright but equalising goals from Nathan Banton and Kieran O'Connell took the match to a penalty shootout.

Midfielder Atwal calmly converted the fifth and final spot kick of the shootout to send Long Eaton United through to the semi-finals after John Guy struck the woodwork with Gresley Rovers' third penalty.

Brad Munn made two changes to the starting line-up ahead of the Quarter-Final clash. Moore replaced Lewis Belgrave in attack while Callum Cocks started at left back in Cieron Keane’s absence.

After some great pressing from Gresley in the opening minutes Guy should have given the visitors an early lead. A corner kick from Rovers dropped perfectly to Guy at the far post but the centre half’s header was denied by the crossbar.

Upon his return to Grange Park, Louie Turner almost gifted a goal to his former teammate Jack Rogers. The young goalkeeper’s clearance fell short to the winger, although Turner redeemed himself and produced a diving save to stop Rogers' attempt on goal.

Just moments later Rogers left his mark on the match when he won possession in the final third and picked out Prestyn Moore who curled the ball into the bottom left corner of the goal from 18-yards out – a first senior goal for the 16-year-old midfielder.

However, the lead would only last three minutes as ex-Long Eaton wide man Banton scored with a stunning finish into the top corner to equalise in the 34th minute.

As half-time approached, Gresley almost took the lead; Banton’s cross to the near post was glanced in by O’Connell but the visitors' celebrations were cut short by the assistant referees flag – goalscorer O’Connell adjudged to have been in an offside position.

With the match level, Munn made one change at the break, Ryan Campbell-Gordon came on to replace Cocks at wingback and made his second appearance since returning from injury.

Making an immediate impact from the bench, Campbell-Gordon was pivotal in the build-up to Long Eaton’s second goal of the match. The defender played the ball down the line to Rogers who slipped past his marker with a body feint and squared the ball for Andrew Wright to slot into the bottom corner from the edge of the area and restore the lead.

The visitors made some impactful changes of their own when Haydn Brown was introduced on the right side of Gresley’s attack. Brown had a chance to cut inside and shoot but Ross Durrant was equal to the strike and made the save.

In the 73rd minute the visitors equalised, O’Connell in the right place, at the right time to knock in Brown’s cross at the far post.
With regular time almost up, a chance to win the match fell to Gresley but Jack Ekins-Tyson headed wide and the cup tie went to a penalty shootout.

Centre half Martin Smyth stepped up and converted the first penalty of the shootout for Gresley.

Wright was first up for Long Eaton and tied the shootout with a superb spot kick into the top corner.

Joshua Waldram scored Gresley’s second from 12-yards to make it 1-2 before Rogers dispatched his and brought it level once again.

Experienced defender Guy smashed Gresley’s third penalty into the crossbar and Aaron Cole held his nerve and put away his penalty to give Long Eaton a 3-2 lead in the shootout.

Ekins-Tyson scored to make it 3-3 and second half substitute James Spruce rolled his penalty past Turner to maintain the advantage.

Jayden Cotterill then scored his spot kick which left the deciding penalty down to Atwal who never looked in doubt as he placed the ball down and found the back of the net to send Long Eaton through in the cup.