Tyrese Shade bagged a hat-trick as Burton Albion defeated a spirited Brackley Town 3-1 to reach the Emirates FA Cup third round proper.
The 25-year-old opened the scoring on 13 minutes but Brackley equalised through Michael Nottingham’s close-range finish.
Both sides pushed hard for a winner but the League One side’s extra quality showed as two more clinical finishes from Shade saw Burton set up a trip to Boreham Wood in the next round.
The Brewers began the game on top and created a string of early opportunities to go in front.
Kyran Lofthouse was unable to get the ball under his control when well placed while Julian Larsson twice saw efforts go wide of the target either side of Shade firing over.
The pressure paid off on 13 minutes when Shade found space on the edge of the box and drilled a superb finish into the bottom corner to give Jonny Maxted no chance in the Brackley goal.
The hosts gradually found their feet in the game and a series of quickfire set pieces led to the equaliser.
A deep corner was headed back across goal by Kyle Morrison and 36-year-old Michael Nottingham did superbly to volley between the legs of Bradley Collins and draw his side level.
Clear-cut chances were few and far between in the remainder of the first half, which ended all square, but Maxted was called into action soon after the restart to beat away Jack Armer’s strike.
The goalkeeper pulled off an even better stop to keep out Kegs Chauke shortly afterwards while Brackley continued to look dangerous from set pieces, Matt Lowe hooking a shot wide midway through the second period.
The League One visitors restored their advantage with 17 minutes to play as they struck their hosts on the break.
A hopeful Brackley ball forward was cleared by Jack Beesley straight into the path of Shade, who found himself clean through and kept his cool to tuck away his second of the night.
Morgan Roberts fired narrowly wide for Brackley but Burton sealed the deal in the 88th minute, Beesley setting up Shade to find the bottom corner and secure his side’s progress.
For the National League hosts, this was a fifth exit at the second round stage as the third round continues to prove elusive.
