Goalkeeper Taye Ashby-Hammond was the hero as Stevenage secured their place in the third round of the FA Cup with a 4-3 penalty shoot-out victory at Port Vale.

After a 1-1 draw at Boro last time, another 120 minutes could not separate the two sides in the replay at Vale Park as they drew 3-3 after extra time.

Ben Garrity scored either side of half-time to put Andy Crosby’s hosts two goals ahead.

He opened the scoring after just six minutes as he tapped home from close range before he hammered in a second after Alfie Devine nodded a cross into his path 10 minutes after the restart.

Harvey White’s unstoppable near-post strike pulled one back before Kane Hemmings sent the game to extra time in the sixth minute of additional time.

Ryan Loft’s first goal for the club, in the 114th minute, again seemingly sent Vale through before Nathan Thompson sent the game to penalties.

It was then a painful penalty shoot-out for the hosts as scorers Garrity and Loft saw their spot-kicks saved by an inspired Ashby-Hammond, either side of Luther Wildin smashing his over.

Steve Evans’ side now have a trip to non-league Maidstone, who are playing in the third round for the first time since they reformed in 1992.

Dino Maamria was sacked as Burton manager following his side’s 2-1 defeat to promotion-chasing Stevenage.

Deji Oshilaja gave Albion a seventh-minute lead, converting the rebound after Joe Powell’s penalty was saved by Taye Ashby-Hammond.

But Kane Hemmings struck against his former side on the stroke of half-time and Jamie Reid kept his cool from the penalty spot to condemn Burton to a fifth defeat in six winless games in League One.

That run has seen Burton slip down the table, with Maamria leaving them in 19th place, four points above the relegation zone.

A statement from chairman Ben Robinson read: “Dino Maamria has been relieved of his first-team duties with immediate effect.”

Maamria performed his post-match media duties but was in sombre and reflective mood of not only the game but his time at the club before learning of his departure.

“I thought we started well in very tough conditions,” Maamria said.

“We dealt with a number of long balls and then went ahead, deservedly, I thought and then last minute of the half we switch off at the back post and then they score to go in at half time one-one.

“Second goal it comes from a poor throw out and their players pick it up. KB (Kwadwo Baah) is trying to get back in position but they get a penalty.

“It is tough to take. Ultimately I have been at this club two weeks short of three years and I have loved my time here. I think the fans have been magnificent with me throughout that time, a lot of players and a lot of staff.

“It is a winning business and I haven’t won enough games. We had a good October but overall I understand the fans frustrations. Football is a winning business and we didn’t win today.”

Stevenage boss Steve Evans hailed his side as they maintained their League One promotion push.

Evans, whose team are third, said: “It was an outstanding performance. Maybe we were still trying to deal with the conditions in the first 10 minutes and we were a bit sloppy leading to them getting the penalty.

“We had a perfectly good goal disallowed with one that was over the line, having seen the footage and the stills, but in fairness to the referee there were a lot of bodies in the way but then you look to the assistant, so we felt a bit hard done to.

“I thought we became really strong in the last 20 minutes before half-time, got the goal, and perhaps we should be turning round in front, despite the penalty and then, I think, second half, we controlled it. It was inventive and it was bright.

“For 70 minutes, how could you not be commending that sort of performance and we come away with a very hard fought and deserved three points.”

Goals from Jamie Reid, Ben Thompson and Elliott List earned Stevenage a 3-0 win at Fleetwood.

Reid scored his fifth in his last four games to give the visitors a half-time lead and second-half efforts from Thompson and List helped settle the first ever meeting between the two sides.

Reid hit home a crisp opener in the eighth minute after Carl Piergianni won a header on the edge of the box and Jordan Roberts played the ball across goal.

Fleetwood had half-chances to draw level before the break, but Danny Mayor sent a shot straight at goalkeeper Taye Ashby-Hammond.

Jack Marriott could not capitalise on two chances in quick succession, seeing his first shot blocked and a second effort clear the bar.

In added time at the end of the first half Ashby-Hammond’s miscued punch from a corner found Shaun Rooney, but his wild finish flew yards over.

The hosts showed signs of life early in the second period and Phoenix Patterson crashed an effort against the crossbar.

In the 56th minute Kane Hemmings capitalised on a slip by defender Bosun Lawal to set up Thompson and he netted his first for the club.

Fleetwood pushed forward as they sought a way back into the match, but, with Mayor also hitting the bar late on, it was clear it was not to be their day.

And List completed Stevenage’s impressive victory with a breakaway goal in stoppage time.

Manager Steve Evans wants Stevenage to continue gatecrashing the upper regions of League One after their 1-0 victory over Lincoln lifted them up to fourth in the table.

It is 12 years since the Boro reached the play-offs in what was their first season in the third tier and few would have had them down to threaten a repeat after winning promotion back in May.

They continue to defy expectations, however, as Jamie Reid’s 14th goal of the campaign earned a third league win in a row and handed Michael Skubala a losing start as Lincoln head coach.

Evans said: “We are that little bad apple in the barrel that no-one wants to be in that top group.

“There is only the town of Stevenage and everyone in it – myself, the board, the players, everyone that’s connected with the football club – that wants us in that top group because we’re fighting for something that people thought two years ago would be in the National League.

“We just have to keep working hard, keep principled, keep humble and then take it forward to a real tough game to face Lee Johnson at Fleetwood.

“This is a really good Lincoln side, I think everyone in football was surprised they decided to change manager, but Michael has come in and his team gave us a few problems in the first half.”

It was in the second half that Stevenage took control, with Lincoln goalkeeper Lukas Jensen saving bravely from Reid before Kane Hemmings struck the inside of the post.

The breakthrough came in the 68th minute when a scramble in the six-yard box following Jake Forster-Caskey’s corner led to Reid bundling in.

It could have been more comfortable for the hosts, with Forster-Caskey striking a free-kick just over and Jensen making a good save to deny Reid a second, but there was no doubt they were deserved winners.

Skubala admitted the Imps were ultimately outmuscled, saying: “We need to get stronger, there’s no doubt about that, and it takes time to get physically stronger.

“It’s not something where you can just flick a button, so we’ve got a lot of work to do with the lads off the pitch to get physical.

“They’re strong, it’s just sometimes where you’ve got to do the scrappy stuff away from home against Stevenage that we probably got outfought in those battles.

“I think you saw the work we’ve done [during the week] in the first half and I was quite pleased.

“We won a lot of second balls, which we knew we were going to have to do here, and we had a couple of moments where we probably should have done better in the final third.”

Jamie Reid scored the only goal of the game but Stevenage’s 1-0 win at Wycombe was overshadowed by serious injuries to two home players.

An aerial challenge between Boro captain Carl Piergianni and Wycombe forward Brandon Hanlan resulted in the latter being stretchered off with a shoulder injury.

The delay saw 14 minutes of additional time in the first half, during which Wanderers hit the crossbar after a Luke Leahy free-kick was flicked towards his own goal by Piergianni.

Max Stryjek was then forced into a low save from an Alex MacDonald effort before Kane Hemmings’ low cross was stabbed home by Reid in the final minute of stoppage time for his 13th of the season and fourth in as many games.

Wycombe huffed and puffed to find an equaliser as Tjay De Barr headed wide while David Wheeler smashed the bar with a first-time drive.

And with 10 minutes to go, the game entered another lengthy stoppage as Leahy received medical assistance before going off on a stretcher.

Stevenage saw out the remainder of the game to stay in the play-off places as Wycombe dropped to 12th.

Paul Warne understands why Derby supporters voiced their frustrations towards the end of his side’s 3-1 defeat at Stevenage.

Boro fully deserved to record a first win in four league games which lifted them up to sixth in the Sky Bet League table.

Derby, though, are so far not living up to their pre-season expectations, with a second straight away defeat hard to take for many of the travelling fans who made their feelings towards Warne clear.

“The fans who came aren’t happy; they’re not happy with me, they’re not happy with the football, they’re not happy with everything, and I understand that,” Warne said.

“We are not in this league to come to Stevenage and lose or underperform, and it is a disappointing day for everyone involved at the football club.

“We just weren’t good enough to beat Stevenage, who I didn’t underestimate, but just in moments we weren’t strong enough.

“If I am truly honest, I have never had to manage a group where your own fans give it to you and I appreciate their frustrations.

“We’ve been honest with the lads there, saying what we think, and we will have to try and bounce back Tuesday (against Northampton) and put a performance on.

“What is obvious for anyone who knows anything about football is we have got a soft underbelly.”

Jordan Roberts gave Stevenage the lead with a thumping strike after a free-kick was teed up for him in the 32nd minute, but that was soon cancelled out by Nathaniel Mendez-Laing’s neat finish.

Alex MacDonald then put the Boro ahead from a free-kick right at the end of the first half, which beat Derby goalkeeper Joe Wildsmith for pace.

Boro then secured victory with six minutes left when Kane Hemmings opened his account from Luther James-Wildin’s ball across goal.

Stevenage boss Steve Evans said: “We fully respected and acknowledged how good the opposition were.

“They are, in my opinion, the biggest team in League One and arguably if they’re in the Championship you could be saying the same.

“We knew we had to match them in every area and I think we’ve done that and more today.

“We should have won by more, but we don’t fail to recognise that for Stevenage to beat Derby County in a league fixture is for the whole town really.

“It is tremendous for us and I don’t really have a thought towards Derby other than that they are a terrific side.

“It is more hand-to-mouth here and we have to find a way to compete at the level we have come up into.”

Chris Martin scored his first goal for Bristol Rovers as he chipped in from 35 yards to earn a point for the home side in a 1-1 draw with Stevenage.

The 34-year-old elegantly lobbed over stranded goalkeeper Taye Ashby-Hammond with seven minutes remaining when John Marquis fed the ball to the Pirates’ September free transfer signing.

Stevenage striker Jamie Reid had netted his ninth goal of the League One season before that as the visitors took the lead in the 40th minute.

Kane Hemmings, Connor Taylor and goalkeeper Matthew Cox all collided in the area trying to meet Jordan Roberts’ looping cross, and while the home supporters awaited a whistle from referee Matthew Donohue, it never came. Instead Reid gathered the loose ball and calmly slotted into the open goal.

Rovers forward Jevani Brown saw a good effort blocked in the second half, while Carl Piergianni headed a Jake Forster-Caskey free-kick against the post with half an hour to play but Stevenage came no closer to scoring.

Stevenage boss Steve Evans was thrilled to see Elliott List bag a brace in a comfortable 3-0 win at managerless Cheltenham Town.

The former Gillingham forward missed a year of action after suffering an ACL injury at the start of last season.

He came off the bench in the 57th minute and added to Jordan Roberts’ first-half strike for Boro, leaving bottom side Cheltenham still without a league goal this season.

“I’m really pleased for Elliott List,” Evans said. “It’s been a long 15 months for him.

“He did his ACL in the first game of last season and the reaction from the group, including everyone on the bench, was pure joy when he scored his goals.

“If he’d watched my finishing in training he could’ve had three. In fact, he was annoyed he missed one and I had to remind him he’d scored two, we’d won 3-0 and it was a good day at the office.”

Cheltenham rallied in the first half after Roberts’ opener, but the second half was all Stevenage.

“We’re delighted with the performance overall and should’ve scored three in the first 15 minutes,” Evans said.

“Cheltenham then came back into it and hit the bar. But in the second half it could’ve been anything. It was one-way traffic.

“They’re between managers which creates uncertainty for the players, but we were the superior side.”

The Robins parted company with boss Wade Elliott in midweek and placed Kevin Russell in temporary charge.

It took Boro only seven minutes to pierce their defence when Dan Butler’s corner fell for Roberts in the box and he beat Luke Southwood with a low finish.

Jovan Malcolm smashed a shot against the bar for the hosts after Liam Sercombe’s pass in the 34th minute.

Aidan Keena fired a shot just over and Sercombe forced Kristian Hegyi into a flying save before half-time as the Robins rallied.

But List made it 2-0 in the 69th minute after another Butler corner was not dealt with and he followed up to score his second in the 73rd minute after Southwood parried Ben Thompson’s shot from the edge of the box.

Cheltenham have now waited more than 13-and-a-half hours for a goal and never before has a team gone nine games without scoring at the start of a league season.

Interim boss Russell saw positives in the performance, but distanced himself from taking the job on a permanent basis.

“I came in with Wade as a coach and he’s a really good friend of mine, so it’d be really difficult for me to take the job,” Russell said.

“With regards to working with the new person, that’s a conversation that needs to be had further down the line. We’ll have to see.

“There were some positive aspects to look forward to, for whoever comes in, with a lot of continuity to push on. There is still a lot to play for.”

Steve Evans hit out at the “shambolic” defending which cost Stevenage victory in their 2-2 draw with Carlisle.

Jamie Reid’s double looked set to give Boro three points, but Joe Garner’s last-gasp header rescued a point for the Cumbrians, for whom goalkeeper Jokull Andresson was in inspired form.

The result was enough to take Evans’ newly-promoted side a point clear at the summit, albeit having played a game more than the majority of the division, but the Boro boss was not in the mood to revel in the lofty position.

“I’ve got no interest in being top of League One,” he said. “We played really well, but we’ve given away two of the worst goals a team can concede and a team deserving of nothing get a share of the spoils.

“That dressing room is flat and they will stay flat because we need to learn. Individuals have to take responsibility when we praise them and also when we criticise because it’s two shambolic bits of defending.”

Reid gave the hosts the a 15th-minute lead, firing home after Carl Piergianni flicked on Dan Butler’s free-kick.

Parity was restored four minutes later when Sean Maguire tucked the ball home via a deflection and in the aftermath, Stevenage assistant Paul Raynor was booked for dissent.

Andresson produced fine saves from Jordan Roberts, Charlie McNeill and Reid before the break and the first chance of the second half saw Piergianni hit the bar.

Reid doubled his tally with 16 minutes to go before being denied a hat-trick by the Icelandic goalkeeper, whose saves proved vital as Garner struck at the death.

“Jamie Reid will take the plaudits because he’s scored two, but he could have had five or six,” Evans said. “That’s not the standards you need at this level to win the game.

“There will be no plaudits from me about being top of the league when people around us have games in hand, that means nothing to me that nonsense.”

Carlisle came up alongside Stevenage in League Two last season and United boss Paul Simpson hailed goalkeeper Andresson for his part in earning his side a hard-fought point.

“Jokull is outstanding,” he said. “He’s made some excellent saves and that’s why we’ve brought him in because he’s a shot-stopper.

“He hasn’t got the height of Tomas Holy and his kicking might not be as good, but the players have got confidence in him.

“When he makes saves like that, they have more confidence in him and you need to be confident in your goalkeeper.

“It’s important to have a group who are ready and prepared to do the ugly stuff. I think if we do the ugly stuff throughout the game, then we could be taking away three points.”

Steve Evans was delighted to see Stevenage’s best-laid plans pay handsome dividends after his in-form side claimed an “excellent” 3-0 win at Leyton Orient to go third in League One.

Boro have now won four of their six league matches this campaign and their latest success came thanks to first-half goals by debutant Charlie McNeill and Dan Sweeney and then a wonderful 25-yard strike by Nick Freeman.

Evans’ promoted team now are level on 13 points with leaders Exeter and second-placed Bolton following their convincing victory over last season’s League Two champions, and the Scot believes the scoreline could have been even greater.

“I thought the boys were excellent,” Evans said.

“We knew we were playing against an excellent team but we had a game plan which we worked for a couple of days and we knew we could effect it in certain areas. With a little bit more care and attention I think we could have won by more.

“We didn’t set up immediately which comes with new players but we have tremendous team spirit and we learned lots today about individuals and we continue to be humble. We win, lose and draw together.

“We’ve come to Leyton Orient and the atmosphere has been tremendous from both sets of supporters albeit I care more about ours than anything.

“They have travelled in big numbers and Orient fans always turn up and get behind Richie Wellens and the team here.

“I thought Charlie McNeill’s movement was fantastic. In fairness, the Leyton Orient defenders done well to find where he was after half an hour because he ran them ragged into all sorts of channels and he got his goal as a reward.”

O’s boss Wellens took responsibility for the reverse following his side’s fourth defeat in six league matches this season.

Orient must view Stevenage as a bogey side having failed to win any of the last six encounters against them.

“I will take the blame,” Wellens said.

“It’s very difficult when you have a performance like last week whether we needed to change the team and I contemplated all week, do we need to go big or do we need to maybe go three at the back?

“I thought first 15 minutes we were good and dominating the game and Ruel Sotiriou has to score in that period but pretty quickly after that we conceded from two set-plays. After that they managed the game well and made no mistakes.

“I should have changed the team from last week and put more experience out there. Our average age of the side was 22-years-old but it was against a team of men and physically we struggled.

“Set-plays and balls into our box is something we need to work on. When you have so many young players, it’s a learning curve. Full credit to them though they were outstanding.”

Exeter manager Gary Caldwell was a happy man after his side reached the third round of the League Cup for the first time since 1989 by beating Stevenage on penalties at St James Park.

After Alex Hartridge, for City, and Jordan Roberts had traded strikes, it was left to Pierce Sweeney to score the decisive spot-kick after Viljami Sinisalo had saved from Dan Butler in the shoot-out.

“It’s fantastic, a great effort from the team again,” Caldwell said. “It was a really difficult game and both teams treated the game with respect with the teams that were picked and we got tested right to the limit and it had to go to penalties.

“I thought we remained extremely calm and our penalties were fantastic and Vil (Sinisalo) was fantastic in that situation.

“I thought we were really good in the second half and deserved to win the game, but we couldn’t get the second goal, which I think would have killed the game off, and you always run that risk with the way that Stevenage play. We didn’t defend one cross and we paid the price, it went to the wire, but thankfully we got through.

“It’s the first time in 34 years that we’ve won through and that’s a fantastic achievement for this team – a new team that’s only recently formed. The quick progress they are making shows the potential that they have.”

Stevenage boss Steve Evans said: “It’s obviously disappointing to lose, especially on penalties. We made six changes today due to the injuries we had, but I can’t fault the players for the effort and performance they put in.

“Exeter are a good team and Gary is a good bloke. We didn’t really get going in the first half, but I thought we were excellent after the break and the game could have gone either way. Unfortunately, penalties are a lottery and it didn’t go our way tonight.”

Exeter made it through to the third round of the League Cup for the first time since 1989, but they needed penalties after a 1-1 draw with Stevenage at St James Park.

Exeter made a fine start to the game with a goal in the fifth minute. Alex Hartridge saw his initial header saved from a corner, but he reacted quickly to volley past Krisztian Hegyi.

In a half of few chances, Exeter’s Pierce Sweeney saw his header easily saved by Hegyi, while it took until the 40th minute for Stevenage to threaten, but Elliott List’s fierce shot was saved by Viljami Sinisalo in the Exeter goal.

The home side’s domination continued after the break, but they were unable to kill the game off. Sweeney, Hartridge and Jack Aitchison all went close before Aitchison was forced off after a nasty collision with an advertising hoarding.

Out of nothing, Stevenage drew level when Jordan Roberts headed in a Harry Anderson cross in the 69th minute. That sent the match into a penalty shoot-out with neither side able to find a winning goal.

The stage was set for Sinisalo to save from Dan Butler, and Sweeney to send Exeter through by scoring the fifth of their five spot-kicks.

John Mousinho slammed the decision to send off Portsmouth’s Joe Rafferty and Stevenage’s Jake Forster-Caskey after a feisty 0-0 draw at the Lamex Stadium.

The two players were shown red by referee Simon Mather when a 50-50 challenge seemed to spark a skirmish on the floor during the second half of the League One clash.

Jordan Roberts came closest to scoring when the Boro forward hit the post from outside the box late in the first period.

“I think it was bizarre,” said Mousinho.

“We have just watched it back there, there is nothing in it.

“Rafferty and the lad on the floor have a little coming together, the referee does not deal with it and decides to send both players off.

“I just thought, from what I could see, the Stevenage player did not do anything to Rafferty or vice versa.

“Honestly, I don’t know, I think both players were really shocked.

“I just spoke to Rafferty there, he said there was nothing in it, so a bit of a strange one.

“It was a tough game to assess I think, it was another bizarre afternoon of football ruined by things that happened off the pitch.

“We are disappointed to come away with another draw, this is a really tough place to come, Stevenage are very well organised and good at what they do.

“We really opened them up towards the end, it was a very strange last half-hour because of the sendings-off.”

However, Boro boss Steve Evans insists the sending-off swung the match in Pompey’s favour.

“That changed the momentum a little because we were so far on top at that stage,” said Evans.

“That probably helped the Pompey lads a little bit more than us.

“I 100 per cent did not see it, if I saw it and my player was out of order then I would say it.

“I think they are under huge pressure aren’t they, we are under our own pressure.

“This is Portsmouth Football Club, look at the support they bring and the press coverage they demand because they are such a great club.

“I think John is a good young manager but he will learn along the way, won’t he?

“We will take the point; we will regroup, and we will go again.

“I don’t think there was a lot to split the teams at the end if you take the whole 90 minutes in.

“I think everyone will go home and say they will take the point, a hard-earned point.

“I think if you listen to every pundit and press report coming into the game, you would have thought it was lambs to the slaughter today, but little lambs bite sometimes.”

Steve Evans felt that Stevenage were fully deserving of their 2-1 win at Cambridge.

Stevenage have won all three league games since promotion to League One, with their success at the Abbey Stadium ending their opponent’s own perfect start.

Jamie Reid’s fine effort from outside the box eight minutes from the end proved decisive, coming less than two minutes after Mark Bonner’s side had pulled level through Elias Kachunga’s first goal for the U’s.

“There’s no doubt, we should have had the game over in the first half. Rather than good chances we just don’t take advantage of getting in good areas,” said Evans, whose side had gone ahead in the first half through Jordan Roberts.

“In the second half Cambridge were much better at counter-attacking than we were in the final third, but if it had been anything other than an away victory tonight it would have been a travesty.

“We missed three of four good opportunities. Jamie Reid should put us in front earlier than he did, but it’s a great strike to get the winner.

“The credit to us is that they get the goal from a scuff, they don’t get another chance.

“That’s credit to us because this is a good Cambridge team. There’s no one sitting here saying they aren’t a good team, they’ll win lots of games.

“He is big goal Reidy, the boys have just been singing that to him in the dressing room.

“He’s an infectious character but they’re all infectious. We can’t ask these players to give us any more.”

Bonner felt there were encouraging signs in the performance his Cambridge team produced, despite their first defeat of the campaign.

“They’re very, very good at what they do, Stevenage, and they’ll win a lot of games because of it.

“For large parts of the game we defended the threat very well, in certain periods when we were chasing we got counter-attacked a little bit too easily in the second half.

“The timing of the second goal’s a real killer for us because we’ve just got ourselves back in the game.

“I think there’s loads to learn tonight, and loads to like from it as well. Some of the football at times was brilliant, really good.

“We had the best chance early on where the ball flashes across the goal, a couple of set plays that flash across.

“It was nearly moments I think in a lot of our attacking play, without creating as much clear-cut stuff as we’d have liked.

“Actually our goal came probably at a time where the game was fairly balanced and we probably didn’t see it coming.

“The quick one from them is a tough one to take. I think if tonight’s a draw it’s probably the right result.”

Stevenage continued their perfect start to life in League One with a 2-1 win at Cambridge.

U’s keeper Jack Stevens was called on to push away a Finley Burns header early on, before the visitors took the lead after 27 minutes.

A long free-kick from goalkeeper Taye Ashby-Hammond was flicked on by Carl Piergianni, and Jordan Roberts nipped in to tuck the ball beyond Stevens.

Steve Evans’ team missed a huge opportunity after 62 minutes when Roberts played sub Jamie Reid through on goal, only for Stevens to produce a fine stop to deny him.

It looked like Stevenage would be made to regret that miss 10 minutes from the end when two substitutes combined for Cambridge’s equaliser.

Fejiri Okenabirhie’s shot was heading wide but was turned in at the back post by Elias Kachunga.

Parity was to last just moments though, with Reid making amends for his earlier miss with a super effort into the far corner from outside the box to win it for Stevenage.