Our second Glassboys Review starts how it ends with a trip to Long Eaton United in a cup competition. We were drawn against the Nottinghamshire outfit in the first qualifying round of the FA Cup which would be the first meeting between the sides, despite the fact we will meet four times this season! A well-worked opener gave the hosts the lead midway through the first half but Benbow would level things up before the break as he made no mistake from the penalty spot after Flint was fouled in the box! A dominant second-half display saw Flint and Prosser also get on the scoresheet to secure us a place in the hat for the second qualifying round.

The long trip east to Needham Market came the following Saturday, on what would be one of the hottest days of the year! Despite the baking conditions, we were unlucky not to lead at the break following a good first-half display. The hosts had the better of the second half and would ultimately take the three points, with the decisive goal coming from a penalty that was taken well twice by Morphew after the first effort was ruled out for being taken before the ref’s whistle.

We returned to action just three days later for the first competitive number 9 derby in nearly five years. As expected for one of the non league’s biggest derbies, it was a full-blooded affair at a sold-out War Memorial Ground. Kieron Donnelly opened the scoring before a header from Reece King leveled the score. A delay to proceedings followed after a fence collapsed during the celebrations and the visitors would make use of the added time when former Glassboy Nathan Hayward regained the lead for the Yeltz in the 8th minute of added time. Another former Glassboy, Miracle Okafor, would extend their lead just after the hour mark before Jack Holmes scored their fourth just four minutes later. We continued to fight back with Benbow scoring a trademark freekick with 20 minutes to go but we came out on the wrong side of a seven-goal thriller despite a flurry of last chances for the Glassboys.

We did manage to bounce back quickly from our derby day defeat in a big FA Cup tie against northern premier league side Matlock Town. An early striker from Alex Prosser settled us down quickly and another goal in the second half from Benbow rounded off a professional display which secured our place in the draw for the third qualifying round.

Tough games were continuing to come thick and fast in the league, including a trip to recently promoted AFC Stamford. Having lost to them under Mark Yates in the FA Cup in our last meeting, we knew it was going to be a difficult place to go. We fell to a 3-0 defeat on the road as they struck twice through Shaw and Burgess before Charlie Price was sent off after they broke through our defence and he was forced to foul the oncoming striker outside his box. Jack Wilson stepped up to take the gloves however his clean sheet wasn’t to be as they added a third ten minutes from time through Duffy.

Another Tuesday night game followed as we welcomed recently relegated AFC Telford United to town. A new formation for us paid off in the first half as we found ourselves 2-0 up at the break thanks to goals from Jack Fletcher and Luke Benbow. However, it would become a game of two halves and the Bucks would fight back in the second half. Goals from Pendley and Dianganga would see us share the points under the lights.

Our final game of September would be our third qualifying round of the FA Cup against Mickleover, who currently sit top of the league and hadn’t lost in 12 games before our meeting. Despite their impressive record, we started brightly and Stanley Obinna Anaebonam would break the deadlock inside 10 minutes after he chased down a long ball forward by Bavangana and lifted the ball over the oncoming goalkeeper to give us an early lead. Sports would then be reduced to 10 men after Barnes was shown a red card after some after following a strong challenge by King. We continued to dominate the tie and a second-half strike by Flint would seal it as some excellent hold-up play by Stan saw his first-time strike soar into the roof of the net - securing an exciting fourth qualifying round tie against National League side Gateshead tomorrow afternoon.

Our last game saw us return to Long Eaton United in the FA Trophy. We took the lead in the first half as Wilson's effort rolled across goal to Benbow who made no mistake when tapping it home. The Blues would equalise early in the second half through a half-volley from Tom Hewlett but they were unable to deal with our attacking threat afterwards. Some inspired substitutions saw Walters regain the lead for us before some great work from Flint put it on a plate for Darryl Knights to score our third. Academy graduate Alfie Steward would then set Luke Benbow up for his display as we grabbed our fourth and final goal of the game. Our 1-4 victory sets up a home tie in the first round of the FA Trophy against Northern Premier League side Bamber Bridge at the end of October.