There was a sense of FA Cup fever in the air as the world's greatest domestic cup competition kicked off for yet another exciting season of enthralling action, and Shane Baptiste will be incredibly pleased with his side's professionalism as they ground out a hard-fought 1-0 win to progress.

Biggleswade United, led by well-known Spanish football journalist Guillem Balague and plying their trade in the Spartan South Midlands Premier Division, certainly made it difficult for The Woods throughout the contest. Sidi Haidara, who barely had to face a shot last weekend, was busy for the entirety of the tie and had to make several strong saves in the first-half, but we had chances of our own too.

Jibran Ahmed was in the thick of action, watching an effort squirm wide before coming agonisingly close to reaching Solomon Ofori's cross, which would have certainly resulted in breaking the deadlock. Ofori had a chance of his own after he was teed up by Manny Martins after a bombing run down the left, and despite rounding the goalkeeper, he failed to divert his effort goalwards.

The interval brought a chance for The Woods to regroup and lay out the groundwork for safe passage into the Preliminary Round, with a much-improved and dominant second-half showing. On the hour mark, Ahmed was brought down inside the penalty area, with the referee showing no hesitation as he pointed to the spot, but it wasn't as straightforward as it may sound. Uko Oji stepped up but saw his spot-kick brilliantly saved; luckily, our number nine was alert and reacted quicker, prodding the ball home from close range!

After taking the lead, we remained resolute at the back and made it incredibly difficult for the hosts to get back into the tie. They did, however, come close on multiple occasions late on, with one effort slamming off the post as Haidara was rooted to the spot. It felt like it would be one of those days for The Commoners, with the rebound going wide from just three yards out. That fear could have been avoided had Baptiste's men taken one of their many chances to kill the game off on the counter-attack in the closing stages, but in knockout football, all that matters is the victory, and that is exactly what The Woods got.

Starting XI: Haidara (GK); Owusu (C (Mitchell Nelson - 73')), Agboola (Kirwan-Meade - 64'), Hastings, Martins; Jewers, Kebi, Anderson (Runham - 73'); Ahmed, Oji (Protic - 81'), Ofori (Sergio - 64').

Unused substitutes: Blackford, Phillips.