The incredible start to Maldon & Tiptree’s season continued with the Jammers making club history in the fourth qualifying round of the Emirates FA Cup.

Wayne Brown’s team had won every one of their 15 games in all competitions heading into the tie at Royston Town and that became 16 as they overturned league placings to win 3-1.

It is a victory that has placed Maldon into the first round proper of the FA Cup for the first time in their history and a game against former winners such as Sunderland, Portsmouth or Ipswich Town or local Football League clubs Colchester United or Southend United could be in store for them in the next round.

Maldon will find out what their reward is when the first round proper draw is made at their Park Drive home on Monday evening when they will still be revelling in their heroics at Royston.

The hosts ply their trade in the BetVictor Southern League premier central division – a level higher than Isthmian League division north side Maldon – but there was no gulf in quality on a memorable day.

The Jammers came into the game with confidence and that showed in the opening exchanges as their early promise was rewarded with a goal on 20 minutes.

Royston did have a couple of chances, but it was Maldon who created the better of the opportunities and they went ahead when an attempted clearance was skewed by a home player over his own goalkeeper and into the hosts’ net.

It was the start the Jammers had wanted and that got better on 31 minutes when Charley Hughes saw an effort saved and Danny Parish turned in the loose ball from an acute angle.

That made it 2-0 at half-time as Maldon & Tiptree fans started to dream of their team making history, but nerves were set jangling again ten minutes after the restart when Royston halved the deficit.

They had already hit the crossbar after the break, but did find the target on 55 minutes with a headed goal from a corner.

Royston then went and hit the post, however, home hopes of a comeback came to nothing and a goal by Jorome Slew killed the tie off ten minutes later.

That made it 3-1 and allowed Maldon to take the sting out of their hosts and ensure that it was their name that would be gracing the draw for the first round proper of the FA Cup.