There will be three seventh-tier sides in the FA Cup second round after Kettering Town, Gainsborough Trinity, and Harborough Town all progressed on Saturday – in hugely contrasting manners.
Southern League Premier Central leaders Kettering pulled off the shock of the round with an extra-time 2-1 derby victory away to Northampton who sit 78 places higher in League One.
Harborough thrashed Tonbridge Angels 4-1 on their first-round debut, while Gainsborough beat eighth-tier Hednesford Town on penalties after an eight-goal thriller.
The two lowest-ranked sides left in the competition were locked at 4-4 after extra time before Jordan Helliwell sealed the shootout 5-4 for the Northern Premier League team.
National League sides Wealdstone, Dagenham and Redbridge and Oldham all beat League Two opposition.
National League South side Weston-super-Mare forced Bristol Rovers to extra time before going down 3-1, while Northern Premier League Guiseley were edged out 5-4 on penalties by Stevenage, of League One.
Kettering had never beaten local rivals Northampton in a competitive fixture and were on the backfoot after Connor Johnson put through his own net.
However, Luca Miller levelled midway through the second half and then teed up former Newcastle United striker Nile Ranger to score a dramatic winner, two minutes into extra time.
But the day’s most dramatic tie came in the West Midlands.
Hednesford, who sacked manager Steve King 24 hours before the tie, looked to be cruising when Manny Duku, Omar Holness and Dominic McHale put them 3-0 up.
But Will Lancaster’s equaliser in the fifth minute of stoppage time capped a remarkable Gainsborough fightback.
Holness fired the hosts back in front in the first period of extra time only for Javelle Clarke to force a penalty shootout.
Going down to sudden-death kicks, Helliwell kept his nerve to send Trinity into the second round for the first time since 1952.
Among sides making their debuts in the first round, Rushall Olympic, of National League North, were beaten 2-0 by League Two side Accrington.
But Harborough made it through, and in some style, at Tonbridge Angels.
National League South side Tonbridge were bidding to reach round two for the first time, but a Ben Stephens double and goals from Paul Malone and Dan Forbes sealed a memorable away win for the Southern Premier League Central side.
Weston-super-Mare were seeking just their second-ever win in the FA Cup proper – and their first since 2003 – and made the short trip to League One outfit Bristol Rovers for a mouth-watering West Country derby.
The National League South high-fliers forced extra time through Jordan Bastin’s equaliser, but Connor Taylor and Grant Ward gave Rovers a 3-1 win.
Last season’s FA Cup surprise package, Maidstone United, fell to Solihull Moors in one of the day’s four all-non-league ties.
The Stones beat Ipswich Town on their way to the last 16 earlier last term but were unable to get past round one on this occasion as National League side Moors won 3-0 to reach round two for the fifth time.
Bromley reached the second round proper for the first time since 1945 as they edged National League play-off chasers Rochdale 4-3 in a seven-goal thriller.
Corey Whitely and Michael Cheek put Bromley 2-0 up inside three minutes, but Sam Beckwith, Kyron Gordon and Ian Henderson turned the game on its head and had Dale sniffing an upset.
Yet stoppage-time goals from Whitely and Levi Amantchi won it for the visitors.
The biggest gulf between first-round sides on Saturday was the 88 places that separated League One outfit Stevenage and visitors Guiseley, who sit four tiers lower in the Northern Premier.
Guiseley’s Will Longbottom levelled with seven minutes left to force extra time and then penalties after Jamie Reid had fired Stevenage in front, but Jameel Ible saw the final spot-kick saved as the hosts edged the shootout 5-4.
The National League, meanwhile, claimed several scalps over EFL opponents.
Dion Pereira’s second-half penalty gave Dagenham and Redbridge victory at Crewe who sit fifth in League Two, while James Norwood and Jesurun Uchegbulam helped Oldham fight back to beat fourth-tier Tranmere.
Wealdstone are in the National League relegation places, but put their league form behind them as Alex Reid’s 90th-minute winner sunk League Two Grimsby.
But a 95th-minute equaliser denied National League strugglers Maidenhead United a place in round two for the first time in 138 years.
Shawn McCoulsky put Alan Devonshire’s side ahead at home to League One strugglers Crawley, who sit 45 places higher in the league ladder, but Toby Mullarkey’s stoppage-time strike sent the tie into extra time.
And Tola Showunmi bagged the winner with four minutes of extra time remaining.
Remaining first round fixtures
Sunday –
Milton Keynes Dons v AFC Wimbledon (12:30)
Sutton United v Birmingham City (12:30)
Boreham Wood v Leyton Orient (14:00)
Curzon Ashton v Burton Albion (14:00)
Harrogate Town v Wrexham (15:30)
Monday –
Chesham United v Lincoln City (19:15)
