A Tom Romano brace was enough to send Atherton LR into the first round proper of the FA Vase, overcoming Cheadle Town 3-1 in a big upset on Saturday.

Hosts LR, despite being the underdogs, were on top in the opening 15 minutes, with Joe Bacon causing problems for the Cheadle full-backs.

Following this LR pushed forward for their opening chance when a George Chadwick through ball found Bacon on the right, a quick low cross found Tom Romano in the box who aimed for the bottom corner but a fantastic save by Cheadle’s James Hodges, denied him the early lead.

Cheadle were able to form a quick counter to pressure the LR defence into a mistake - leading to a corner which was swung in, deflected out of the box and a second-phase play cross found Ben Hampson who poked the visitors into a 1-0 lead with seconds to go in the first half.

LR were not deterred, and straight from kick off after the break the pressure was on for Cheadle to hold their lead.

A quick run down the wing by Brandon Dawson allowed him space to cut the ball into the middle, aiming for Romano whose quick thinking let the ball play through his legs to Bacon who was able to convert the chance on 49 minutes to level the scores.

As the minutes ticked by, the game was more and more in favour of LR, with the crowd urging them forward.

In the 80th minute, Owen Green was brought down in the box, giving the referee no choice but to award the penalty which was converted calmly by Romano, to send LR into a late 2-1 lead.

But it was not over yet, as straight from the restart, LR pushed forward and capitalised on a defensive mistake as Romano converted a third.

Delighted manager Dave Jones said: “Well it was a proper cup tie - wasn’t it? They’re (Cheadle Town) a good side, they moved the ball really well and it took us probably 15 minutes to get a grip of that.

“In the second half I thought we took it up a gear, we pressed them a little bit harder with more intensity. I thought we were relentless apart from that little lull in the middle. Sometimes you’ve got to step back and think, look how far the club’s come over the last 18 months. So many people from the community are getting around us.”