After their Bank Holiday weekend wins over Willenhall Town and Leighton Town had taken them to 6th place in the Southern League Division 1 Midlands, United made the long trip to Norfolk full of confidence to take on Ridgeons Eastern Counties League Premier Division Wroxham in the FA Cup Preliminary Round. The sides had met at the same venue in the 3rd Qualifying Round last season and there was a sense of deja-vu about the result this time around as the game ended 1-1 although, unlike last time, there weren't 13 minutes of stoppage time at the end!

It was always going to be a tricky tie against the Yachtsmen, one step below Aylesbury in the non-league pyramid and unbeaten in the league with 3 wins and 2 draws so far, and so it proved after the proverbial 'game of two halves'.

Traffic delays en route meant the United team coach only arrived at Trafford Park at 2.35pm and, partly as a result, they failed to get into their stride in the opening 20 minutes, lacking any sharpness.

Wroxham thought they'd scored in the 6th minute when Shaun Howes' free kick from the right was sidefooted by Ben Thompson at the far post but Boston referee Stephen Ross immediately ruled out the goal for offside. Then in the 10th minute a Howes free kick from a central position just outside the box was spilled by Ducks keeper Tom Vincent and Lee Gilman shot high and wide from 6 yards, Vincent recovering in time to do just enough and put the striker off.

Enzo Silvestri was a tad lucky to have been shown only a yellow card in the 15th minute for a bad tackle on Wroxham's Justin Fox which resulted in some pushing and shoving between several players.

Then in the 19th minute Gary Gilmore ran down the left and cut in before curling a shot pas the far post from outside the box. Two minutes later Thompson threaded a good through pass to Fox who sidestepped his marker before seeing his shot very well saved by Vincent for an unproductive corner.

Silvestri tangled with Fox again in the 30th minute but no cards were shown before Fox was yellow carded a minute later for a foul on Kyle Kilmartin.

Wroxham continued to dominate things with the impressive Fox running the show in midfield and could have gone ahead in the 37th minute when Fox robbed Liam Smyth and ran across the edge of the box but his goalbound shot deflected off Justin Gordon for a corner. From Howes' kick on the right, Gilman stretched out a leg but his effort went wide of the far post.

Then just as we moved into first half stoppage time United had their first real chance of the game so far. Gordon threaded a great ball down the left to Andy Shed who timed his run to perfection to beat the offside trap and run onto. However, he shot too early and his effort was easily saved by Wroxham keeper Andy Jackson.

After being the better side in the first half, the hosts had the better of the chances in the early stages of the second half - indeed, any neutrals watching would have been forgiven for thinking it was Wroxham who played in the higher league!

A half chance came United's way in the 48th minute when home defender Josh Carus' miskick hit Shed, whose shot was easily saved by Jackson. Then at the other end in the 53rd minute Fox's corner on the left was flicked on by Gilman before being headed off the line.

In the 57th minute Thompson crossed from the right and Gavin Lemmon volleyed high over from 20 yards. The game badly needed a goal and it got one in the 62nd minute when Fox's corner from the right was headed into the far corner from the edge of the 6 yard area by Gilman.

The Ducks began to come back into it and the double change of Roni Joe (for Richard Pringle) and Aston Goss (for Smyth) in the 63rd minute paid dividends 3 minutes later. Joe was brought down on the left by Lemmon (who was yellow carded), Goss' free kick to the far post was knocked back across goal by Shed and Brett Court fired home the equaliser at Jackson's right hand post.

The visitors were enjoying their best spell of the game and almost went ahead in the 70th minute when Sam Swonnell picked up the ball and sent a great 25 yarder just past Jackson's right hand post.

Then in the 80th minute Goss ran into the left of the area and tried to beat Gavin Pauling, the ball rebounded from Pauling's attempted tackle back to Goss, whose shot was saved by Jackson.

In the 85th minute Joe broke free on the right and cut in along the byeline, but his square ball inside was missed by Silvestri before being cleared for a corner. As the clock ticked over to the end of the 90 minutes, Silvestri's pass left Joe with a good sight of goal but the substitute wasted the chance by shooting over.

Then with a complete minute of stoppage time played, United were desperately unlucky not to grab the winner their second half display merited when Silvestri struck a great free kick from 22 yards which came back of Jackson's right hand post just below the angle, before the ball was cleared.

So the match will go to Aylesbury for a replay on Monday evening, for United's first ever competitive game at Haywood Way. Let's hope history repeats itself and that it's Jon Franklin's side who go through to the next round.