MALDON and Tiptree got their season off to an ideal start by progressing to the FA Cup preliminary round with a 2-0 win at Shefford Town and Campton, writes LEE WITNEY.

The Jammers' first real chance of note came on six minutes when Louie Remi cut in from the right and curled in a left foot shot which was well parried away by Shefford keeper Reece Lewis.

Both sides were struggling to gain a foothold in the tie and as a result, there were chances and half chances aplenty.

George Smith looked to have given Maldon the lead after 22 minutes, getting between two defenders before dinking an effort over Lewis only for a Shefford man to get back and clear the ball off the line.

Shefford nearly took the lead on the half hour mark when a Metcalfe free-kick from about 35 yards out missed everyone in the box and just grazed the post on its way out for a goal-kick.

With half-time approaching, it was Maldon’s turn to threaten the scoresheet.

Terrell Egbri capitalised on Dan Hammer's poor touch to intercept and put Alex Clark through one on one.

Unfortunately for the Jammers man, his shot was well saved by Lewis who managed to hold on, too.

The second half started in a similarly disjointed manner to the first, but ten minutes in, Clark nearly broke away only to be denied by a great challenge from the recovering Charlie Milton.

With an hour gone, Andre Hassanally replaced Remi for his second Jammers debut and nearly made an immediate impact, shooting just wide from the edge of the box after good work by Smith.

The Jammers thought they had the lead with 20 minutes left when Clark rifled home after being played in by Egbri, but the assistant's flag cut the celebrations short.

Less than a minute later, Maldon did have the lead.

Hasanally and Smith linked up well on the edge of the box and Smith produced a lovely first-time finish to convert Hasanally’s pass.

As the game reached additional time, the old adage of “who would be a goalkeeper” came to pass.

Having been solid all afternoon, Lewis had the ball at his feet with Sam Ayoola closing him down.

The Shefford keeper went to clear his lines only for the ball to cannon off Ayoola and roll into an empty net, to wrap up the Jammers' win.