SEAN Miller made the most of a half-time reprieve from manager Jim Harvey to steer Altrincham through to the FA Cup first round proper at The J.Davidson Stadium on Saturday.

Warned he was on the brink of being substituted by no-nonsense boss Harvey, attacking midfielder Miller responded with two goals in quick succession at the start of the second half to crush Matlock's hopes of an upset and land Alty a first-round tie away to Lincoln City.

"I was planning to take Sean off at half time, and I told him so, but he showed me two runs for the first time in the game late in the half, and that made me change my mind," said Harvey.

"I said to him: "Look, I don't mind if you fail in your endeavours to try and create something. I can live with that. But you are not even trying".

"There were signs these players have the potential to put things right, but there were also signs it's not there yet.

"It's going to take a while to turn this round. But here's what you've got to do. You've got to win your games, so from that point of view, terrific.

"It's the FA Cup, there's extra money, it's three wins on the bounce with only one goal conceded, so there are signs of improvement. But no-one's kidding themselves – there's a long way to go."

Fit-again centre-back Tom Hannigan was shown a straight red card for a second-half foul and will be suspended for Alty's next three league games, at home to AFC Telford United on Saturday and Bradford Park Avenue on Tuesday night and away to Worcester City the following Saturday.

* A few tickets are still available for a sportsman's dinner featuring BBC Radio Five Live commentator Alan Green in the Community Sports Hall at The J.Davidson Stadium tomorrow at 7.30pm. At £25 each, they are available from the club on 0161 928 1045 or by email altrinchamprog@yahoo.co.uk