NANTWICH Town prepared for their historic FA Cup clash with MK Dons with a disappointing draw on the road in Ashton.

A questionable penalty handed the home side a point against a frustrated Dabbers, who will be hoping that they receive a fair shake of the dice when they travel to Stadium MK in the FA Cup First Round Proper match on Saturday, 3pm.

It marks a momentous occasion for Dabbers, who will be making their first full FA Cup appearance of the club's 127-year history.

There will be only two members of the Nantwich Town squad who have experienced this stage of the FA Cup before.

Manager Jimmy Quinn reached the semi-finals with West Ham and defender Mat Bailey being named man of the match when he starred for Northwich Victoria in their televised 1-0 FA Cup First Round victory over Charlton Athletic in 2009.

Ashton United 1 Nantwich Town 1

NANTWICH failed to create any fireworks on Tameside as they suffered at the hands of the referee to end up with a point.

Mat Bailey headed home Sean Cooke’s corner just before the hour mark to salvage a point for Jimmy Quinn’s men, who failed to move closer to the play-off spots of the Evo-Stik Premier Division.

The Dabbers dominated the early stages with top scorer Ben Mills coming closest to opening the scoring, but the division’s leading marksman’s effort was easily saved by Terry Smith.

The penalty came in the second half, when Burns latched onto Alex Frost’s long ball before being tackled by Matt Lowe, for which the referee, to the surprise of everyone, awarded a penalty.

The substitute picked himself up to smash the penalty into the top left corner giving United a 1-0 lead.

But Nantwich replied on 56 minutes, when Cooke’s corner was perfect for Bailey to nod home his second goal of the week.

Mills had a chance to win the game late on, but his half volley was tame and was no trouble for Smith.

Nantwich: Brain, Lowe, Solovjovs, Summerskill (Maguire, 67), Bailey, Moss, Cooke, Flynn (c), Mills (Lennon, 84), Everall (Brunt, 77), McLachlan. Subs: Chapman, Foster.

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