A solitary goal from Lee Newman was enough to carry the Magpies through to the first round proper of the FA Cup for the first time in 35 years.  The tie was inevitably a tense affair with one goal always likely to be decisive and so it was that United were the team who held their collective nerve to secure victory.

A fast and frenetic first half saw little incident of note, with the best chance of the game up to the break falling to Merthyr’s Craig Steins in the opening minutes, however with only the goalkeeper to beat his shot ended up a country mile away from the target.

After the break United took the game by the scruff of the neck and began to turn the screw on their opponents.  In the 54^th minute Dwain Clarke waltzed through the Martyrs team on a mazy dribble only to blast the ball over when in close range of goal.  A minute later a Richard Witt shot went just wide and a Maidenhead goal seemed imminent.  It arrived in the 69^th minute when a cross from the right was dealt with messily by the Merthyr defence and ended up at the feet of Dominic Sterling at the far post, the experienced centre back coolly took his time waiting for Lee Newman to run into space before cutting the ball back to the striker who made no mistake with a powerful finish from eight yards.

With the game running away from them, Merthyr resorted to lumping long hopeful balls forward but their strikers were unable to get on the end of these which were either cleared competently by the United defence or gathered by goalkeeper Chico Ramos.  With 14 minutes to go the Welshmen’s job became harder when Jamie Rewberry was dismissed for an aerial challenge on Craig O’Connor. Within minutes the referee evened the numbers up by showing a second yellow card to Ashley Smith (above) for simulation.

This gave Merthyr fresh impetus, and their golden chance to equalize arrived with five minutes left.  A Tom Billings corner was inadequately cleared by United allowing Merthyr to put the ball back in the danger area where Garry Shephard rose unchallenged to head the ball towards the iniviting goal.  With all 711 spectators watching with their heart in their mouth, the ball appeared to be flying home only for the outstretched hand of Ramos to come to the rescue with a breathtaking save to push the ball to safety.

Maidenhead then again went close to scoring through Clarke and Witt before the referee blew the final whistle to the relief of the Maidenhead supporters who poured onto the York Road pitch in celebration before quickly heading for a TV screen to see what fate the draw would deal.

Magpies: Ramos. Smith, Parsons, Nisbet, Sterling, Hughes R (66 Clarke Da), Witt, Osman (80 Romeo), O'Connor, Newman L (74 Allen), Clarke Dw. Unused subs: Lewington, Haule.

Goal: Newman 69.  Bookings: Osman 37; Smith 46, 82.  Sending Off: Smith 82.

Magpie of the Match: Chico Ramos. Gate: 711.

Martyrs: Morris, Williams S, Collins, Phillips, Warton, Rewberry, Kift, Dimond, Shephard, Steins (74 Moses), Williams D (63 Billing).   Unused subs: Thomas, Carpenter. 

Booking: Rewberry 46.  Sending Off: Rewberry 76.