Uxbridge captain Mark Gill was the Honeycroft hero as his injury time winner put the Reds through to the Third Qualifying Round of the FA Cup in a thrilling tie. Berkhamsted belittled their lower division status in the opening stages and continually probed the home defence. Wes Foley was a constant threat on the right wing and his cross in the second minute created the first chance of the game as Andy Mullins headed over. Shortly afterwards a mistake from Stuart Bamford almost allowed the lively Will Cooper through but a Paul Mills tackle averted the danger. It was far from all one-way traffic though. In the sixth minute Stuart Bamford wasn’t far over with a shot from twenty-five yards and then Gill headed over from a Chris Moore cross. However, the Lilywhites continued to look the most likely side to open the scoring and Cooper shot at Sean Dawson before Mullins should have done better with a free header but put the chance tamely wide. Midway through the first half Berkhamsted created the best goal scoring opportunity of the game so far when Foley’s cross was met by substitute Ricky Ibe and his header produced a brilliant save from Dawson to keep the scores level. Two minutes later the visitors latched on to a poor clearance from Kevin Cleary and Cooper shot over. As the half hour approached the Reds began to threaten themselves. Danny Jordan’s shot on twenty-seven minutes was deflected by Nicky Starbrook and landed on the top of the net, then, four minutes later, Uxbridge took the lead when Dean Clark’s precisely weighted pass set up Gill to unleash an unstoppable volley. Berkhamsted though were level within six minutes via the penalty spot. Stuart Bamford brought down Cooper and Paul Lowe made no mistake from the resultant spot kick. Then, three minutes before the break the Lilywhites took the lead with Cooper turning from creator to scorer. He may have been fortunate with a lucky bounce but his finish from the edge of the area was exquisite. Uxbridge started the second half in determined fashion and went close on a number of occasions with Nicky Ryder and Moore shooting wide and over respectively in the first five minutes of the half. At the other end Ibe had the ball taken away from him by a good defensive header from Mills but it was Uxbridge who were on top. In the fifty-second minute Gill beat two players before hitting a right foot shot, which Sean O’Connor in the Berkhamsted goal saved, and a minute later Clark set Moore up with an opportunity but he shot wide. Gary Cobb fired wide for the Lilywhites after Cooper had created an opening but Uxbridge continued on the ascendancy. In the sixty-seventh minute Jordan found himself through on goal but delayed too long. His shot was blocked and in the ensuing scramble the Reds felt a Berkhamsted hand stopped the ball but referee Mr Simmons didn’t agree. Finally, Gill picked up the loose ball and his shot was deflected into the side netting. A minute later though Uxbridge were level. Phil Granville’s thirty-yard pass sent Jordan away on the right in an almost identical situation. This time he jinked past a defender oozing confidence before slotting the ball past O’Sullivan. Clark had a twenty-five effort well held by O’Connor before Cooper was needlessly sent off ten minutes from time for stamping, which left Berkhamsted trying to hold out for a replay. Two minutes from the end Clark’s corner was headed on by Gill to Kevin Cleary but his header was over and then a minute later Moore headed a poor clearance from O’Sullivan into the path of Ryder but with just O’Sullivan to beat the ‘keeper smothered his attempted lob. With those two narrow escapes over it looked as if Berkhamsted had achieved their objective and both sides would be doing it all over again on Tuesday evening. However, there was still one twist to come. Two minutes into injury time Ryder sent over a deep cross from the left and Gill headed in to send the Honeycroft faithful into rapture and confirm Uxbridge’s place in the FA Cup Third Qualifying Round for only the second time in the last eleven seasons.

UXBRIDGE: Dawson, S.Bamford, Granville, Mills, K.Cleary, Walters, Jordan, Gill, Ryder, Moore, Clark.

Subs not used: Fredriksen, Calaghan, Weedon, Burns.

BERKHAMSTED TOWN: O’Connor, Mullins, Lowe, Starbrook (Knight 82), Coleman, Aldridge, Foley, Cobb, Richardson (Ibe 12), Cooper, Nightingale (Campbell 87).

Subs not used: Brockett, Ringsell.