Stalwart supporter hails best night

The U’s won 5-4 on penalties in an FA Cup second round replay at home to Harrogate Town, setting up a trip to Middlesbrough in round three on the first weekend of next month.

Asked where this would rank in all the achievements since he started watching the old Hastings United in 1948, Gerry Aldridge said: “It’s the best really. We’ve had some good times in the ‘50s, but that was a professional outfit. In recent years this upstages everything.

“They did very well. They really should’ve won it in the second half. One or two decent chances weren’t put away, but there wasn’t too much between the two teams.”

Asked if he would travel to Teesside in the next stage of the world famous compeition, the 77-year-old from Ore replied: “If I was single I would!”

The old Hastings United, founded in 1948 and wound up in 1985, reached the third round in successive seasons in the early 1950s.

This is the first time that the present day Hastings United, which was previously Hastings & St Leonards and Hastings Town before changing its name to United in 2002 with no legal connection to the old United, has gone beyond the first round proper.