Hitchin Town 0, Heybridge Swifts 3

Swifts produced a stunning FA Cup upset against their high-flying Southern League Premier Central hosts who had only lost one game out of six in the league going to Saturday's FA Cup preliminary Round tie.

Hitchen supporters even conceded that had the margin of victory been larger, it would not have been undeserved. At the end of the match a delighted Swifts team shared their celebrations with a vocal, substantial travelling band of supporters.

The highlight of the day was Swifts' second goal on 65 minutes and if ever a pile-driver deserved that name it came with a stunning near 40 yard strike from Jack Adlington-Pile that was described as the best seen at Top Field for many a year.

Isthmian North Swifts began the match the better, forcing a number of corners in the early stages and went close several times, including a great header from Darren Phillips that was saved by Tiernan Parker.

Hitchin's efforts were restricted to a couple of ineffective free-kicks and its was Swifts, who were clearly the more enterprising side and they got their reward with another Phillips header on 26 minutes found the net.

Hitchin were fortunate not to concede another when Adlington-Pile was only just wide with his low shot and it was the source of some surprise that Hitchin managed to reach the sanctity of their dressing room at the interval only the one goal in arrears.

Home fans expected an improvement after the break but it didn't come – or rather Swifts didn't let it happen as they dominated even more than they had done in the first period.

Rob Harvey was particularly impressive, engineering a number of corners and then had a header that Parker held. Harvey then had a chance with a 'one on one' but Parker made a memorable save.

The pressure continued and was eventually rewarded with Adlington-Pile's stunning strike and then, with the visitors in cruise control, they rounded off a memorable day with another goal from Adlington-Pile, this time a header on 76 minutes.