Town boss Neil Aspin said he was pleased with his players after they earned a replay at Conference Premier side Lincoln City.
Town dominated large sections of the game and were agonisingly close to scoring a numerous occasions at Sincil Bank, but couldn’t find the goal that would have sealed a place in round one, and a home tie with Walsall.
But despite their profligacy, Aspin said he was pleased with his side’s impressive showing.
“I’m very pleased with the players,” he said.
“I thought they worked exceptionally hard, especially in the first half when I thought we were by far the better side.
“We have come to a team in a higher division and really out played them in the first half so I’m really pleased with the performance.”
Aspin admitted it was hard to see chances come and go in a game where Town did everything but score.
“When you see chances and they’re not taken you begin to wonder if you’re ever going to get a goal and if it’s going to be your day,” he said.
“But football is about what you do in both boxes and when the chances come along you need to take them. It’s unfortunate that we didn’t, but I can’t fault the players effort.
“Some of the chances we created were through good play and others were perhaps a bit of bad finishing but it wasn’t as if they were absolute sitters.
“The performance was much better than last week and we need to make sure we play like that in the league as well and if we do that then I feel we’ve got a strong team.”
Aspin also reserved praise for his defenders, including Phil Bolland, who started alongside Liam Hogan and Danny Lowe as Town switched to a 3-5-2 system.
“If you’re going to come away in an FA Cup tie you’re going to come under pressure at certain times, your keeper has got to make some saves and defenders have got to throw their bodies in to block shots and that is what they did. The draw is no less than they deserved because we controlled the majority of the game and but for a 15 minute spell we were the better team.
“You’re always taking a bit of a chance when you use a differen system but I knew that Lincoln wouldn’t expect us to play like that so I felt that it would be a surprise for them, but I also felt that with Phil Bolland’s experience he could come in and do a good job and he did.”
Now Aspin’s Shaymen face a replay on Tuesday - with the prize a first round tie against the Saddlers.
“It gives us confidence going in to Tuesday. Our away form over the last year and a half has been excellent, I don’t think we’re bothered about having to play away. Whether playing at home is an advantage or not I wouldn’t like to say, but certainly it’s a good opportunity for us.
“We just need to get the result we got against Chester after drawing there, and we need a bit of luck as well.”
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