Matt Taylor was exuberant after Wealdstone progressed to the second round of the FA Cup by beating League Two side Grimsby Town 1-0 on Saturday.

After weathering an early storm, loan signing Alex Reid’s last-gasp winner snatched victory for the Stones, who were handed a home tie against Wycombe Wanderers in Monday's draw.

“In the first half we were a little bit, I felt, not good enough at keeping the ball,” Taylor told the club website.

“There were a couple of hairy moments. The penalty the referee gives is never a penalty. You can tell from where I’m standing the direction of the ball. We got that bit of luck that we’ve been talking about for so long, and we don’t concede.

“There were a couple of moments in the first half where you understand that you cannot play against a team that is doing well in their division. They’re going to have opportunities, and they’re full-time professionals. They’re a big club with great history and really good players.

"But we made a tactical change at half-time, and it just gave us so much control in the second half. I said to the players it’s been really good to share this moment with the supporters - 168 of them have come here. It’s a long way and a big number of people for a small club like ours.

"Before the game, nobody gave us a chance, apart from us, and I spoke about that with the players. There has to be a real belief we can come and win this game, but what pleases me, especially today, is we’ve kept a clean sheet.

“We probably weren’t as easy on the eye as we have been previously, but we’ve had to make a change, and that change is bringing us results."

The Stones fared well in the second half, dominating the ball in the final third and mustered several decent chances to take the lead, and Taylor was keen to focus on the team’s improving performances over the last couple of weeks.

"I felt we had chances. I felt that we were the only team in it in the second half,” he added.

“We dominated and picked up second balls. We did the side of the game that we haven’t been so good at this season, and that was the ugly side. That was making sure that we made first contact.

"If we didn’t, we picked up second balls. We were combative in the midfield as if we had energy, legs, and desire - all the things that are required for you to be a professional footballer we had a lot of.

“The moment in the game fell to our most confident, in-form player (Reid) after an excellent run by Kallum Cesay, which I thought was a penalty. I thought we could've had a penalty earlier on Alex Reid but I thought they probably should have had a penalty afterwards, so the referee has evened it out from that perspective.

“For us to come here and no one to give us a chance and to walk away with an excellent result and a really good performance in the second half, the players found a way to win and they deserve the credit.”

Stones return to National League action at Aldershot on Saturday.