These are heady days for West Auckland Town. But the pace of Emley’s breakaway attacks was always a threat and it was from just such a counter-attack that Graham gave them an 84th-minute lead.Marple then made two superb saves to preserve the advantage but Fleming, directing the ex-Emley midfielder Colin Alcide’s cross out of the keeper’s reach, put their dreams on hold.. “We will look back on this as a great result in time, I’m sure, and we would have been delighted with 2-2 had it been promised beforehand,” he said. “But to concede a goal after so much added time is hard to take. Everyone in the dressing-room is really upset.”Emley almost pulled it off, too, without their most experienced players, although Graham spent five years on the fringes at Old Trafford before being released and Glyn Hurst, their first-half goalscorer, is ex-Barnsley.A torn calf muscle had robbed them of their captain, the former Barnsley and Leicester midfielder Ian Banks, injured in a midweek FA Trophy replay at Solihull in which the centre-back Neil Lacey was another casualty.However, Emley’s collection of pipe-fitters, firemen, insurance salesmen and others can relish their part in an exciting tie in which they were at least the equals of Lincoln, who are unbeaten in their last 18 matches.Having ousted Morecambe in a penalty shoot-out to reach the latest stage – the former Derbyshire wicketkeeper Chris Marples saved three kicks out of four – Emley found more than 700 had travelled, compared with an average home gate of 300.They raised their first big cheer in first-half stoppage time after Hurst, turning neatly in the Lincoln box despite the close attention of defenders, scored with a right-foot shot that went in off a post after beating Barry Richardson’s dive.Lincoln had gone ahead through Fleming’s 12th-minute header from Lee Thorpe’s cross and their superior fitness seemed sure to be the decisive factor in the second half.

The man of the moment was Deiniol Graham, a striker who scored as a teenage debutant for Manchester United, and who now thought he had an even more memorable goal to savour.But, after a second half interrupted four times for injured players – and one of the assistant officials – to receive attention, referee Terry Heilbron added almost eight minutes of stoppage time and in the last of those Terry Fleming headed his second goal for the Third Division leaders.It was a stunning blow for the part-timers, who have the consolation of a place alongside the Premiership names in tonight’s third-round draw but must replay against Lincoln a week on Wednesday at the McAlpine Stadium in Huddersfield.Glavin, who combines managing the UniBond League side with a full-time job with the sports manufacturer Nike, put on as brave a face as he could in the aftermath. Lincoln City 2

Fleming 12, 90
Emley 2Hurst 45, Graham 85Attendance: 3,729Poor Emley. For 14 minutes, the Yorkshire village side managed by the former Celtic and Scotland midfielder Ronnie Glavin, dared to believe they had pulled off one of the FA Cup’s famous upsets.A goal six minutes from the end of normal time appeared to have won them a place in the third round, two hurdles further than they have been before. Neil Grayson’s second-half goal ensured a tricky night for the Essex side at Edgar Road.Boreham Wood, from the Ryman Premier, drew 1-1 at Cheltenham Town, one of the pacemakers of this year’s Vauxhall Conference, in the only match which was sure to see a non-league side progress. There will be a full house at Broadhall Way on Monday, 15 December.Demoted to the Conference in May, Hereford had a small measure of revenge when they eliminated Brighton, whose last-match win dumped them out of the league, in the first round and yesterday went to Layer Road and held Colchester United having fallen behind after 10 minutes to David Gregory’s strike. The replay, on 16 December, will be Basingstoke’s 11th FA Cup game this season.
Ilkeston led 1-0 at Scunthorpe United through Ian Robinson’s close-range header in the 52nd minute; Jamie Forrester’s late leveller gave the Third Division side a second bite.Stevenage, reduced to 10 men after Ryan Kirby was dismissed with half an hour remaining against Third Division Cambridge United at the Abbey Stadium, led through Gary Crawshaw’s 17th-minute penalty until seven minutes from the end when Martin Butler equalised.

For 20 minutes yesterday, they posed Darlington some problems and both Gary Fitzpatrick and Micky Norbury should have scored in that period. But it was Darlington thereafter who were the more controlled. If this came as something unexpected to the rest of football, Darlington might even have surprised themselves.. Ilkeston Town of the Dr Martens Midlands Division, Basingstoke Town from the Ryman Premier Division, the GM Vauxhall Conference champions, Stevenage Borough, and Hereford United were the toast of the FA Cup second round by, if not exactly killing Nationwide giants, then severely wounding them and forcing replays back at non-league grounds after they all drew 1-1 away. Did the stationers Ryman have a feeling that several Isthmian League clubs were going to have profile-raising FA Cup runs this season when they stepped in with their sponsorship deal just before the first round? Basingstoke supported the strategy when railway guard Alan Carey scored a 75th-minute equaliser at Second Division Northampton Town’s Sixfields Stadium to produce the result of the round. Baldwin all but shrugs off the money.He has invested considerably in players as well and shows no sign of tightening the purse strings.

The scenes of joy after the match which stopped only just short of a lap of honour told the result’s significance.Hednesford, meanwhile, have other places to go. Their finances will hardly benefit from this defeat but it should be a mere blip in the remarkable progress they have made in the Nineties. When Baldwin was appointed manager they were rock bottom of the old Beazer Homes Midland division and, in truth, probably fulfilling all the potential of a team in a dying pit village. Baldwin had been a player with the club but is an accountant by profession. Months after becoming manager he also bought the club and since then has taken them all the way through two divisions and almost to the summit of the Conference and to a new ground, built on a former brickworks-cum-slagheap.It has been an epic journey even in football terms and Baldwin, while sustaining his accountancy practice in Birmingham, is determined to take Hednesford into the League.