Kendal Town 2-North Ferriby United 1.

TWO penalties by James Shepherd were enough to book Kendal' s passage to a second qualifying round tie with UniBond Premier Division outfit Altrincham, known as the "Robins" a week on Saturday.

On a red hot day Town caused their supporters to sweat a bit for this victory over a useful looking North Ferriby side, who got back on terms despite having a man sent off and going a goal down just before the interval.

Both sides are currently riding high in the UniBond League First Division and it showed as defences dominated the opening 30 minutes.

Kendal managed to spray a few promising crosses into the box, but nobody could get on the end of them, while Ferriby were on target with a handful of long-range attempts which were easily collected by Kendal keeper Lee Ward.

Ferriby lost captain Rob Dewhurst, who hobbled off after a collision, and the balance swung in Kendal's favour, Jamie Close shooting just wide and James Shepherd blasting a shot way over the bar.

Then in the 41st minute a shot by Ian Simpson was bound for the top corner when Ferriby left back Adam Lowthorpe raised a hand and palmed it out.

The red card was inevitable and Shepherd stepped up to send the keeper the wrong way as he put the penalty into the left hand side of the net.

Half-time stretched on to 45 minutes as a linesman had pulled a calf muscle just before the interval and a replacement had to be found

It gave Ferriby plenty of time to regroup and for the opening minutes of the second half they camped in the Kendal half without making a breakthrough.

In the 67th minute Ward had a dodgy moment when he overstretched to pull down a cross, but Lee Pennington, who had a good game at right back, hooked the dangerous loose ball clear.

It seemed almost inevitable, however, that the visitors would defy their 10-man disadvantage and they equalised in the 71st minute when the normally reliable Philip Hodgson lunged and missed at a ball whipped into the Kendal box.

Ferriby's Leon Wainman coming in behind him helped the ball on past the clutches of Ward.

Manager Peter Smith immediately rang the changes, with speedy striker David Foster replacing right back Lee Bowen and Peter Whitehead on instead of Hodgson, but the balance of play was still in Ferriby's favour and a strike by their Luke Cadman produced a good diving save by Ward.

With time running out a difficult replay at Ferriby looked on the cards, but a breakaway saw Town striker Ian Simpson upended just inside the box by Peter Sheldon.

It was hardly a cast iron scoring position and a yellow card was the right decision, but Shepherd extracted full punishment, however, as he kept his nerve and drove the penalty hard to the left.

Keeper Paul Sharp got a hand to it, but the force of the shot took it inside the post.

A surprising 14 minutes of extra time brought some heated exchanges with Craig Walmsley and Ferriby's Andy Thompson both picking up yellow cards.

At the final whistle Kendal collected the FA Cup spoils, but these two well-matched sides have still to meet twice in the league and they should be fascinating encounters.