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AFC Telford United are through to the FA Cup First Round Proper for the first time in the club's history after an electrifying team peformance saw the Bucks ease to a comprehensive victory at Blue Square Premier side Northwich Victoria writes Steve Humbles.

Telford began brightly, dominating possession, and it was no more than they deserved when a flowing move ended with Lee Moore opening the scoring on 16 minutes. Liam Blakeman spread the ball wide to Martyn Naylor on the right, and Naylor beat a defender before squaring to Moore who scrambled the ball home left-footed from close-range. Telford continued to control the game for the rest of the half and crucially managed to score a deserved second goal right on the stroke of half-time. Andy Brown chased down a long ball over the top and was upended by Northwich goalkeeper Scott Tynan as he tried to round him. Referee Naylor pointed to the spot, showed Tynan the yellow card, and Brown himself kept his nerve to score with an excellently-taken penalty. Tynan dived the right way, but he couldn't stop Brown's strike from finding his bottom left corner.

The second-half continued in the same vein and a good pass by Lee Vaughan set up Steve Jagielka on the edge of the box on 56 minutes, but the midfielder lifted his shot just over the crossbar. Blakeman just failed to control in front of goal from Naylor's cross, with a home defender prodding the loose ball narrowly past his own post, and there were 61 minutes on the clock before Northwich forced their first real chance; Peter Winn lifting into the side-netting after breaking free in the inside-left channel. There was no way back for Vics on 69 minutes though when another superb Telford move ended with Moore making it 3-0. Telford broke with pace and Jagielka slipped the ball through to Moore who took the ball round Tynan before coolly slotting into the net left-footed. Moore had a shot saved by Tynan on 74 after cutting in from the left, but Northwich knew it wasn't their night when Simon Grand lifted over the crossbar from close-range with his side's best chance of the night on 80 minutes. Substitute Terry Fearns nearly sent Blakeman clear on 82 as Telford continued to threaten, and Fearns had the ball in the net three minutes later but the referee had already blown for an infringement. Young comfortably saved Michael Byrne's long-range effort in the last minute and the Bucks were even afforded the luxury of missing a penalty in injury-time. Fearns was fouled in the box as he tried to go past a defender and Lee Moore took the spot-kick in search of a hat-trick, but Tynan dived to his right to save.

Telford's celebrations at the final whistle were fully deserved and Rob Smith's team can now look forward to a home clash with League One side Southend United on Saturday November 8th.

AFC Telford: 1. Ryan Young, 2. Lee Vaughan, 3. James Meredith, 4. Gavin Cowan, 5. Stuart Whitehead (c), 6. Martyn Naylor, 7. Steve Jagielka, 8. Jamie Vermiglio, 9. Liam Blakeman, 10. Andy Brown, 11. Lee Moore. SUBS: 12. Indy Khela, 14. Terry Fearns (for Brown 79), 15. Emeke Nwadike (for Naylor 71), 16. Carl Rodgers (for Blakeman 83), 17. Jarred Stevens

Attendance: 1,003

Report by Steve Humbles