Thursday night's fixture seemed to herald the beginning of Autumn, with pitch 2 decidedly chillier than even a week ago. As the teams came out, with a selection of Diamonds players rested for Tuesday's FA Youth Cup fixture against a strong Sileby Rangers, it was Hednesford who started brightest, forcing saves from Michael Emery through the first 5 minutes. On 18 minutes, slightly against the run of play, the Diamonds took the lead, a James Freshwater free kick from distance flying through the crowd in the box and into the net.

Hednesford came at the Diamonds again, scoring a beautiful equaliser on the 30th minute as their winger shaped to cross, instead lobbing Emery from distance. The R&DFC response came in the 40th minute, with Nabil Sharif and John Wigglesworth linking up well to produce a Wigglesworth goal to make it 2-1.

Tempers threatened to flare over in the 44th minute, with Hednesford's number 11 and James Freshwater received yellow cards for ongoing little niggles at one another.

Half Time: R&DFC Youth 2 Hednesford Town Youth 1

Hednesford again started the half brightly, forcing a two good saves in succession from Emery on the 50th minute, as Rushden came back Wigglesworth hit the bar, following a fine run, and unselfish pass from Shariff. Diamonds were on the up now, with Freshwater cutting inside from the wing and heading straight for the box, only to be cut down, the resulting free kick however was easily saved by the keeper.

The Diamonds had a spell of dominance during the middle of the second half, with Wigglesworth making it 3-1 pouncing on the goalkeeper's save following a fine Shariff run and shot. Nabil Shariff got a tap in the 68th minute and then another on the 79th minute as the goalkeeper spilled an easy claim for Shariff to poke into the net.

It became 6-1 in the 81st minute as Wigglesworth controlled the ball with his back to goal, turned and shot from the edge of the area.

At 6-1 with 5 minutes left the Diamonds seemed to go to sleep, conceding two late goals to make the scoreline a far less flattering 6-3

Head of Youth Paul Driver said "Overall I'm happy that we got through, but we didn't play too well throughout and were very sloppy in the last 5 minutes. A 6-1 we could have made it 8-1 but there was some very sloppy play at the end to meaning they got it back to 6-3"

Full Time: R&DFC Youth 6 Hednesford Town Youth 3

R&DFC Team: 1.Michael Emery, 2 Matthew Evans, 3 Chris Kirby, 4 Alex Phillips, 5 Sean Calcutt, 6 Conner Hayes, 7 James Freshwater, 8 Lewis Hilliard, 9 Nabil Shariff, 10 John Wigglesworth, 11 Daniel Easlea

Substitutes: 12 George Cox, 14 Lewis Hallford, 15 Aynsley McDonald, 16 Adam Sharpe, 20 James Broadbent

Lincoln City beat Nuneaton Borough 5-0 in their First Round Game to become the Diamonds opponents in the Second Round.

The full draw is as follows (dates to be confirmed)