HADLEIGH United will travel to Bedfordshire to meet Ampthill in the fifth round proper of the FA Vase on Saturday, after their 1-0 victory at AFC Emley.

An early goal by Marcus Josiah and a resolute defensive display in the second period on Saturday put Hadleigh into the last 16 of the competition at a bright and breezy West Yorkshire ground.

Only two minutes were on the clock when Scott Chaplin delivered a pass in to the path of Josiah who beat advancing Emley keeper Luke Merriott. There were minimal chances for either side for the remainder of the first half, until Lee McGlone headed against a post for Hadleigh in the 43rd minute.

Emley, urged on by the 305-strong crowd, attacked in the second period with the majority of play taking place in Hadleigh’s half of the field.

Despite the onslaught of the home side Mark Goldfinch and his fellow Hadleigh defenders put up a great resistance. Behind them Keeper Darren Moyes was in top form with some impeccable handling under pressure.

Delighted Hadleigh manager Stuart Crawford said: “Before the match everyone was really fired up and we completely dominated the first 15-20 minutes – Scott Chaplin could have scored after only 20 seconds.

“Then for some reason we started to drop off and got deeper. As they got more possession they grew in confidence and looked dangerous as they were very direct and started to get balls into the channels.

“But our two centre halves (Mark Goldfinch and Paul Donnelly) were brilliant getting in headers and blocks and Darren Moyes made some great saves as well as coming and plucking the ball out of the air ten or 15 times.

“If they had scored one I would have fancied them to go on and win it, but we held firm.”

Hadleigh now travel to Ampthill on Saturday, and Crawford will be hoping that players recover from injury in time to be available.

New signing James Evans, who picked up a knee injury at Mildenhall last Tuesday, was ruled out, Jerrell Layne was also injured, Mark Gaisford was ill and Ollie Brown and Matt Downing were unavailable.

Josiah injured a groin and was substituted while Chaplin was struggling with a hamstring injury, but had to stay on as all three substitutes had already been used.