Boss wheels out Fergie hairdryer to sink Macc

MAIDSTONE boss Harry Wheeler turned on the half-time hairdryer as the non-League outfit reached the second round at the expense of hapless Macclesfield.

Ben Stephens had given League Two’s bottom club a first-half lead, and Wheeler said: ‘We were really poor in the first half — we didn’t compete and deserved to be 1-0 down. We had a little bit of a rough-up at half-time and had a few verbals, but sometimes you need that.’

The Sir Alex Ferguson-style treatment worked wonders and the Kent side turned the game on its head to win 2-1 thanks to Jack Powell’s free-kick and Blair Turgott’s penalty.

Maidstone will be joined in the second round draw by fellow Kent non-League side Ebbsfleet United, who held Cheltenham to a 0-0 draw.

Ebbsfleet were the better side under new boss Garry Hill but now face a replay in Gloucestershire.

There will be two more non-League names in the hat after Sutton United were left frustrated by a resolute and organised Slough and were held to a 0-0 draw.

Goals were easier to come by at Bury, where the League Two side were the first round’s biggest scorers as they saw off another Kent non-League side, Dover Athletic, 5-0.

Jay O’Shea got Bury on their way and there were two goals for Byron Moore and one each for Danny Mayor and substitute Dominic Telford.

Bury boss Ryan Lowe said: ‘I’m just happy to be in the hat. There have been a few upsets so I’m glad we’ve not been on the wrong end of one of them.’