Hopes of a famous Wembley visit for both Harpenden Town and Colney Heath remain intact after both reached the first round proper of the FA Vase.
Harps had the more convincing win, winning 4-0 away to Chalfont St Peter with Ryan Plowright and Danny Webb on target, as well as a couple of own goals.
A dream start set the tone for the game, a shot from Jake Anthony inside the area parried into the path of Plowright who fired home the rebound.
And it was only a matter of time before they grabbed their second.
A low effort from Webb hit the post but rebounded into the net off Chalfont goalkeeper George Zammit.
Webb did though get his name among the scorers before the interval, glancing a cross home.
The second half was no different, although Harpenden could only add one more, Plowright's cross from the left put into his own net by Archie Henderson.
Harpenden boss Micky Nathan was impressed with the performance and result following an indifferent start to the season.
He said: "I thought everyone stepped up another level, we had a bit more quality than them but credit where credits due, they worked really hard till the end of the game.
“Overall, I thought we were excellent from start to finish.”
There was praise too for the centre-back pairing of Dan Palmer and Archie Locke following the clean sheet.
He said: "DP and Archie Locke were really, really good. After a wobbly five or 10 minutes I thought they were outstanding and are now building a great partnership.
“Matty Gilbert at left back has been excellent since he come in from Arlesey too.
“And the subs that came on, it was a great opportunity at 4-0 to make some changes and give some rest to some players and give everyone a run-out."
Colney Heath meanwhile needed penalties to see off Essex Senior League Stanway Rovers.
The sides had drawn 0-0 after 90 minutes but the Magpies came through 4-3 in the shoot-out.
Alex Strazza had the first spot-kick saved by Stanway keeper Callum Robinson but Connor Sansom made instant amends, the skipper tipping Reece Harris's effort onto the bar and post.
Sansom, who always seems to shine when it comes to a shoot-out, then blocked Stanway's second from Joe Debell, all after Sam Doolan had put the Magpies ahead.
From there both teams kept scoring, Jonas Kolanda and Sam Ejjayha for Heath, Jamie Bennett and Nathaniel Mardell for Rovers.
Joe Caffery had the chance to win it but Robinson grabbed his second save, with Milo Grimes' goal making it 3-3 and sudden death.
Sam Denham went first and after he scored, Tom Maycock hit the crossbar to send Colney through.
Earlier, Ejjayha had seen two hard driven shots saved by Robinson during normal time while Lee Dykes went close with a low effort that flashed wide of the near post.
The pair will now face home ties after the draw for the first round proper.
Colney Heath will be visited by Potton United on October 19 while Fakenham Town are the visitors for Harps.
Both are back in Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division action next with Harpenden at home to Biggleswade United and the Magpies hosting Aylesbury Vale Dynamos.
Colney Heath Res won 7-1 away at Baldock Town Res in the Herts FA Saturday Intermediate Cup.
Harley Fonti scored four while there was one each from for Kairo Anthony, Francesco Tortora and Olamilekin Emilojou.
Another season for St Albans Primary Schools began with four teams away to Gloucester.
It wasn't a great day results wise though as the home side won three of the four matches.
The only winners were the U10 development side who won 4-3.
They started like a train and took a 3-0 lead through Poll, Callum and Burtt and although they were pegged back to 3-2, an own goal sealed the win despite another late goal from Gloucester.
Wainer was named man of the match.
The Blues started well but couldn’t keep it going in the second half as Gloucester B ran out 5-0 winners, Norton getting the man of the match award for St Albans.
The Yellows found it tough going against a strong, physical and well organised Gloucester A.
They played to their strengths with the long ball behind and took advantage, a late goal by Newman making the final score 5-1 with Trollope the MOM.
The girls' game could have gone either way but Gloucester just had the edge in the penalty area and ran out 7-3 winners.
It was a good performance though and they look good for Saturday.
The Saints goals came from Quinn, Huckle and Dunn with Stynes and Huckle jointly winning the player of the match prize.
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