Long Eaton United staged a late fightback at Leicester Nirvana to progress into the 2026/27 FA Cup Preliminary Round stage, following our 2-1 success at Hamilton Park in the Extra Preliminary Round of the worlds oldest cup competition.

On a bright, sunny and dry day in Leicester, The Blues, playing in their home colours kicked off a few minutes after 3pm, with both teams slow out onto the pitch - much to the dismay of the match officials!

Fielding 2 debutants in the starting line-up - full-back Harry Eden and midfielder Alex Howes made their first competitive Blues starts.

The hosts, already 3 games into their league season, may have expected to be sharper out of the blocks early on, but to The Blues credit, they stifled their attacking intent and enjoyed the vast majority of the early possession.

Just 6 minutes in, Alex Howes, signed from Carlton Town over the summer, had a first sight at goal after a well worked move, but his shot went comfortably over the bar.

Long Eaton continued to dominate possession, and found space down both flanks in good areas, but were generally wasteful once in these positions.

On 13 minutes, Harry Eden, who enjoyed a terrific debut, whipped in a dangerous cross, but James Taylor misjudged and headed the ball away when well placed inside the 6-yard box.

Just 3 minutes later, the home side took an unlikely lead. From their first meaningful attack, Josh Allen was handily placed and his right-footed shot gave Lewis King no chance from close range.

The Blues were guilty of some hesitant defending, and looked for an immediate response.

A much more direct attack towards Evan Garnett saw our leading goalscorer from last season, have his first sniff at goal, and his shot was deflected over for a first Blues corner of the game. Whilst Nirvana cleared their lines from this Eden set-piece, Long Eaton began to up the pressure on their step 5 hosts. From another corner, this time from our left from Callum Cocks, Jamie Hanson almost directed the ball into the net from close range, but his toe-poke went just the wrong side of Liam Castle's near post.

In a rare break, Leicester Nirvana reminded The Blues that this game wouldn't continue to be one-way-traffic, and Lewis King was well beaten with a speculative effort from just outside the area - and he was certainly relieved that it went just past his far post.

On 28 minutes, there was a big talking point of the half. A towering Gianluca Bucci header went straight into the net, only for the referee to adjudge the defender to push his marker - replays showed that the Nirvana player was off balance and it was infact his momentum which took him over and there was no push.

Feeling aggrieved, a few minutes later, James Taylor was booked for dissent after a lengthy stoppage in the game whilst a Nirvana player received treatment.

On 37 minutes, a late tackle on Lewis King by goalscorer Allen, caused a small melee, which saw the Nirvana number 10 booked.

From here until half-time, Long Eaton pressed for an equaliser and were camped inside their opponents half. Taylor had another opportunity from 6-yards which was blocked, and Bucci rose highest from another corner, but this time headed over.

On 42 minutes, Alex Howes picked up a loose ball and danced his way into the penalty area before going down under a challenge. The referee thought about awarding a spot-kick, but opted to wave play on. In fairness to our hosts - there was minimal contact.

Howes would have our last effort of the half, but once again, valiant Nirvana defending would see the midfielders header from 7 yards blocked.

On the stroke of half-time, Long Eaton were lucky not to concede a second -Lewis King was outside of his area when an effort from just inside the Nirvana half caught our number 1 off guard, and like slow-motion, the ball bounced just a couple of yards away from the far post, with King failing to make up his ground.

At halftime, Nirvana led by 1 goal to nil, and despite The Blues ahead on possession, territorial advantage, corners and efforts on goal, Nirvana could and possibly should have been 2-0 up.

Into the second half, the game continued in similar fashion. Long Eaton made most of the running, without quite piecing it all together, whilst Nirvana had periodic, but dangerous breakaways.

On 54 minutes, a short Eden corner to Connor Pace on the edge of the area, saw the midfielder rifle a first time shot towards goal, which pole-axed a Nirvana player. That player was goalscorer Allen, and after a stoppage, feeling dazed, it became apparent the forward was in no fit state to continue.

Nirvana then had a couple of opportunities to double their advantage, but on both occasions, they couldn't find the target.

Just past the hour mark, Long Eaton came as close to an equaliser as they had done all game, and it would be a Leicester Nirvana defender who almost became the unlikely hero after prodding the ball past his own 'keeper only to see the ball creep slowly past the post for a corner.

As the minutes ticked by, Long Eaton became more frantic, and were quickly facing elimination from the very first stage of the FA Cup for the first time since 2017.

George Atwal replaced Jamie Hanson, who had done sterling job filling in at right-back, whilst Evan Garnett was briefly through on goal, only to be denied by the referees assistant's flag.

Just when the game seemed to be edging away from The Blues, a flowing move down our right saw James Taylor squeeze a cross over the face of goal, and the on-rushing Davidson-Miller prodded the ball home from no more than 3 yards out.

The Blues sighed a massive relief, and with still 13 minutes to play, a winner seemed on the cards, otherwise a replay at Grange Park on Tuesday was the other outcome.

In the closing stages, Connor Pace was substituted off for Curtis Durose, who made his Blues bow - and this change would inspire a late Blues push.

From here, every Blues attack was spearheaded from the fresh legs of the substitute, and it would be his inch perfect cross from left to right which gave James Taylor the perfect opportunity to slot home what would prove the winning goal in the 89th minute.

Nirvana, who had led for over an hour, now found themselves behind for the first time in the tie, and there was less than a minute of the 90 remaining. Nirvana pressed for a late twist, but the Blues defence dealt with everything in the box, and after 5 minutes of injury time, the referee blew his whistle to the relief of Long Eaton United, who by no means were at their best, but had progressed into the next round of the FA Cup.

FULL TIME | NIRVANA 1 BLUES 2

TEAM; King - Hanson (Atwal 71), Eden, Cotterill, Bucci - Cocks, Davidson-Miller, Howes, Pace (Durose 85), Taylor - Garnett.
Subs not used; Williamson, Cole.
Goals: Davidson-Miller 77 (assist Taylor), Taylor 89 (assist Durose).
Attendance; 96

Thank you to everyone who came to support the side in our opening game of the 26/27 season.

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