PICKERING Town progressed through to the second round of the FA Carlsberg Vase thanks to a performance boss Jimmy Reid had asked for against Denaby United.

Having seen their 100 per cent record in the Northern Counties East League premier division brought to an end by Sheffield in midweek, Reid had wanted to see the right kind of reaction from his players and they responded with a battling display to win 2-0 after extra time.

The match finished goalless after 90 minutes, but Phil O'Reilly opened the scoring when he rose above the defence to nod home Stefan Zoll's cross.

Adam Wash then sealed the win when he connected with Joe Connor's centre.

"It was a better performance than on Tuesday, but there is still room for improvement," said Reid.

"The result is the most important thing for us and we are now through to the next round of the Vase.

"It was a tight game, but I never thought it was one we'd lose. The worst I thought that would happen was that we'd draw and go back to their place for the replay.

"We kept another clean sheet, with (goalkeeper) Adam Mitchell there when we needed him on four occasions."

Harrogate Railway were almost made to suffer by Hall Road Rangers for having one eye on their forthcoming FA Cup fourth qualifying round clash with Morecambe.

With that mouth-watering tie only days away, Railway were guilty of some poor finishing and lapse defending before finally stepping up a gear to win 5-2.

"It was a good result, but not a good performance," said boss Paul Marshall.

"The score could quite easily have been 10-4 it was so open.

"It was good to watch but the defending and the finishing was poor."

Steve Davey had given Railway the lead and as the Station View outfit attempted to scramble home a second they were caught on the break and although Steve Hartley tried clearing the danger the ball rebounded off Darren Phillips for the equaliser.

The Railway management team laid down the law at the break, and although Hall Road started the brighter, Matthew Salvidge sliced Davey's cross into his own net to give the visitors the lead.

This was the kick-start Rail needed, with further strikes from Davey (2) and Ian Hart putting the game beyond the NCEL division one outfit.

"For a first round FA Vase victory, the mood afterwards was very sombre," added Marshall.

"The lads all thought they'd win and so did we, but it was very scrappy.

"I think a lot of people's minds were on the FA Cup."

Updated: 12:21 Monday, October 22, 2001