Rushden started brightly against Raunds with a goal on 3 minutes from Connor Hayes. Dan Easlea put in a brilliant free kick and in the melee that followed Connor Hayes hit a deflected shot into the corner.

The bright start continued for the Diamonds after 10 minutes when Freshwater's pass found Nabil Shariff, who outran his defender and at one on one with the keeper didn't make any mistakes.

At two- nil Raunds came back into the game, with Michael Emery being forced into making a number of saves (Joe Day is ineligible for the FA Youth Cup as he is too old). The first half drew to a close with the game mainly played in midfield, one late goalmouth scramble ensued but the Diamonds saw their shot cleared off the line.

Reflecting on the first half Paul Driver said "I was a bit disappointed in the first half because we didn't move the ball well and didn't keep the ball well, the one time we did it, we carved them open and Nabil was one on one with the Goalie. That was the disappointing thing in the first half, keeping the ball and not talking enough. All of their better chances came when we didn't talk to each other or we gave silly fouls away"

Half Time: R&DFC Youth 2 - 0 Raunds Youth

Raunds started the first half brightly and for the opening it looked as though they could pull their way back into it. A long range effort had Emery easily beaten, but bounced off the inside of the keeper's left hand post, rolling across the goal, Diamonds defence reacted first to this preventing an easy tap in.

As the game drew to a close, the Diamonds fitness told, and attacking opportunities became more frequent after being penned into midfield for much of the start of the half. On around the 75th minute the Diamonds made it 3-0, after a mazing run had been halted just outside the box, James Freshwater stepped up for the free-kick, shaped to chip it over the wall, but instead powered a curling free-kick low, underneath the jumping defender and into the bottom corner.

Another Hallford cross was knocked back by Lewis Hilliard, to Freshwater who added his second of the evening, his shot rising upwards into the top of the net. A number of chances fell to Freshwater, looking for his hat-trick as the Diamonds controlled the later part of the game. John Wigglesworth, who had come on to replace Shariff was booked for dissent as tempers flared near the end of the match.

Wigglesworth netted the fifth in the closing minutes with an opportunistic goal after a Chris Kirby cross looped inwards towards the goal, forcing the keeper into a parry as he fell backwards into his goal, Wigglesworth was on hand to nod in the fifth.

Paul Driver said about John's goal "I spoke with John Wigglesworth about getting in there, getting rebounds, tap ins and horrible goals - and that's what he's done."

Raunds had another late surge, with Emery making saves in the last few minutes, but the Diamonds survived this pressure to make a 5 goal win. The scoreline flattered the Whites somewhat, as Raunds had played well and on overall play the match could have been much closer.

When asked about the second half, Paul Driver said "The second half was much better, in the end we've ran the legs off them and we've kept hold of the ball better. We were still giving away too many silly fouls away, but its one of these games where it's a local side in a cup competition, we're the big team and they're the underdog so they're going to come at us and have a right go at us. It's a different thing for our boys to cope with than playing against Southend or Colchester, teams that play more for the style of football than the result. They set up with 4-5-1 and said come on and break us down, we didn't do that well for most of the first half, second half we did and as they tired we got the three goals at the end."

"All in all I'm happier with the second half because we kept the ball better and made better decisions, but we've just got to tighten up with those silly free kicks because other teams which are set play specialists are going to hurt us."

"That's our third clean sheet on the bounce and we've scored 11 goals in 3 games so I'll settle for that!"

Full Time R&DFC Youth 5 - 0 Raunds Youth

Rushden Team: Michael Emery, Matthew Evans, Chris Kirby, George Cox (Sub Alex Phillips), Connor Hayes, Jack Higgins (Captain), Lewis Hallford, James Freshwater, Nabil Shariff (Sub, John Wigglesworth), Lewis Hilliard (Sub Adam Sharpe), Daniel Easlea
Subs not used: James Broadbent, Aaron King

Raunds Team: Paul Tallan, Carl Chick, Fraser Talbot, Joe Muriarty (Captain), Sam Fowler, Lewis O'Dell, Tyler Merries, David Baish, Jon Tite, Oliver Patrick, Adam Lewis

Raunds Substitutes:
Kyle Wilmott, Antonio Campanaro, Paul Batty, Elliott Dent, Simon Gayton