United moved into the first round of the FA Cup, and an away tie against Wycombe Wanderers, thanks to a 1-0 win at Dagenham & Redbridge yesterday. Leading scorer Rob Duffy, recalled to the side after serving a one-match suspension, grabbed the vital goal from the penalty spot in the 54th minute, after he had been hauled down following an Andy Burgess corner. Duffy had gone close in the first half, when his header was well saved by Tony Roberts after 16 minutes, and United should also have had a first-half penalty after Carl Pettefer was tripped when through on goal, but the referee and linesman inexplicably booked Pettefer for diving. Eddie Anaclet also had a great chance to score his first goal for United after being played through by Steve Basham, but a lack of confidence, or some other reason, made Eddie pass the ball to Duffy when he had only the goalkeeper to beat.

In the second half the hosts again dominated early possession without ever really looking like scoring. After United had taken the lead they were looking very comfortable, and could have extended the gap when Burgess beat the goalkeeper, but then took too long with the ball. The referee decided to try and even things up by awarding Dagenham a very harsh penalty, after a cross struck Barry Quinn’s arm from about a yard away. However, Billy Turley dived to his left to save Glen Southam’s spot kick, and then recovered in time to block Cliff Akurang’s follow-up shot. United were in a bit of disarray after this, and gave away a couple of dangerous free kicks, but Daggers’ set pieces left a lot to be desired, and Turley was relatively untroubled.

Jim Smith made two changes from the side that won 3-0 at Cambridge last Friday. Chris Willmott was away with his wife, who was (is?) expecting a baby, and so Matt Day was recalled to the side. Duffy was brought back into the team at the expense of Yemi Odubade, despite Yemi’s double at the Abbey. Yemi did get on the pitch, replacing Basham midway through the second half. The other change was the introduction of Eddie Hutchinson to replace Burgess with just three or four minutes to go.

The controversial referee was Gary Lewis, who was in charge of Oxford’s recent 0-0 draw at Kidderminster. Apart from his general poor decision making, and the booking of Pettefer, he also showed yellow cards to Day, for dissent, and to Duffy for time wasting. The attendance was 2,685, which is easily Dagenham’s best attendance of the season (beating the 2,022 that saw them play Oxford in the Conference in August). We have been promised a match report, which we will post online when we receive it.

The win extended United’s unbeaten start to the season to 18 games, and gave them a visit to Wycombe’s Adams Park on Saturday 11 November, a date to remember. Other FA Cup 4th Qualifying round games saw Brackley go down 2-0 to Havant & Waterlooville, while a number of Conference teams failed to make it into the first round proper. Halifax lost 1-0 at Burton Albion, while Crawley lost 3-2 at home to Lewes. Grays Athletic lost 2-1 at home to Bromley, and manager Frank Gray was sacked as a result. Cambridge United and Altrincham both lost, against fellow Conference teams Northwich and Rushden respectively, while Forest Green Rovers went down 4-1 at Stevenage. St Albans were beaten 2-1 at Yeading, who were rewarded with a trip to Nottingham Forest as a result. Southport lost 1-0 at home to Kettering, and Gravesend lost 1-0 at Chelmsford.

The draw for the first round gave a number of Conference sides a decent tie, with Weymouth entertaining Bury, Rushden welcoming Yeovil, York at home to Bristol City, and Exeter (who beat AFC Wimbledon 2-1) at home to Stockport. Stafford have possibly the easiest chance to progress to the second round, with a home tie against Maidenhead. There is one all-Conference tie, with Kidderminster visiting Morecambe.