In a game that rarely reached the heights of the Mead’s previous round win over Guernsey, Chertsey Town proved to be an extremely tough nut to crack and it took a piece of brilliance from Cristian Nanetti and a thumping header from Stoney to book Tommy’s side their place in Monday lunchtime’s draw.

Overall, the Gaffer was the first to admit that this was one of those occasions when the result mattered more than the performance as the win earned the club another £3,000 in prize money.

With Tyler McCarthy starting his first competitive game in goal for the home side, he didn’t have to wait very long to be tested for the first time.  Aldridge had the first chance for the visitors as he shot straight at the Mead keeper when well placed.

The Mead’s first attack saw Stoney flash a shot wide after Paul Vines had expertly laid Jay Porter’s cross into his path before the Mead did have the ball in the net only for the header to be ruled out for offside – Jay’s shot had been parried for Vinesy who was flagged offside.

But the Mead didn’t have to wait much longer to break the deadlock as following some truly incredible wing play from Cristian down the right, Stoney powered home his header from the six yard line – keeper Ogle did get his hand to the ball but was never going to stop the header.

Chertsey could have levelled the score on the stroke of half time when Akiotv shot high over the bar when unmarked on edge of the box.  The pattern continued after the break as Chertsey asked the questions but just weren’t able to complete the job.  Gooden show wide when well placed and then saw a cross deflect off of a defender only to loop agonisingly past Tyler’s right post.

That said, in the final analysis the Mead had the chances to seal the win but also failed at the last minute and couldn’t hit the target!  Stoney was denied a second by a truly fine Ogle save, as a second powerful header seemed destined for the net.  Then in the closing stages Cristian shot straight at the Chertsey keeper before sub Luke Coleman (who had been on the pitch for only a couple of minutes) will have been kicking himself for pulling his shot wide when clean through.

Not even two corners right at the end which saw every single Chertsey player in the Mead box – including keeper Ogle – could breach the Mead defences although Tyler was relieved to see Blundell’s header from one of the sail over the bar.

So the Mead progress into the next round and now could face one of our three National League South neighbours on the next step down the “Road to Wembley”!