Football: Glory, glory days come to Guiseley: A typical story about the romance of the Cup is unfolding deep in the heart of Bronte country. Phil Andrews reports

With the leaves still falling from the trees and Bonfire Night the next significant date on most people's calendars, it seemed a bit early to start talking about FA Cup runs.

But that depends on where you are standing. If it is under an umbrella in the drizzle at Guiseley's Nethermoor ground (in the shadow of a mill chimney and not far from where Emily Bronte set Wuthering Heights) the glory, glory days are already at hand.

For the non-Leaguers the road to Wembley begins while the summer holidays are still in full swing, and by the end of October and the fourth preliminary round they are on the brink of what for them is the big-time.

When promotion to the GM Vauxhall Conference is the height of your ambitions, your players all have day-jobs and your average gate is 650, a place in the first-round draw can be your credit card to the good life.

Not that there is anything wrong with the simple pleasures of non-League football. You can park outside the stadium, it costs only pounds 4 to get in, and the nearest thing to hooliganism was an old man in the stand advising a linesman to visit his optician.

The crowd of 978 - 'we always get a big gate if Leeds and Bradford City are not at home,' a steward said - saw some decent football, too, with the ball played to feet more often than not, and enough goals to satisfy anyone who had not made the journey from Durham.

Guiseley, unbeaten in all competitions, lie third in the Northern Premier League - one of the three feeder leagues to the Conference. Durham City, of the Northern League, are even further down football's social order, though they have known better days. They played in the Third Division North for seven seasons in the 1920s, but were disbanded between 1938 and 1950.

It is Guiseley who have the recent League connections and they proved decisive. Ray McHale, the former Scarborough manager, has half a dozen players with League experience in his side, and two he brought from the McCain Stadium did most to end Durham's Cup ambitions for another year in a 6-0 defeat.

The visitors were already heavily in debt to their goalkeeper, David Race, when Guiseley's big central defender, Paul Bottomley, converted a corner in the 40th minute, and Geoff Horsfield made it two with a simple tap-in before half-time. They each scored again shortly after the break, the former Bury and Stockport striker Bob Colville made it five, and Neil Shotton's own goal completed a miserable afternoon for Durham.

Their own big name - Bryan Robson's brother, Justin - scarcely got a kick.

The Cup may be a great leveller, but when you are drawn against a side from a higher division the result can be embarrassing, as Guiseley may yet learn when they face Carlisle United in the first round proper.

'It is nice to be drawn against one of the top teams in the Third Division,' McHale said. 'Their supporters could fill our ground so we may have to think about switching the tie to Carlisle or maybe to Elland Road or Valley Parade. Win or lose, we shall do very well financially out of it.'

Goals: Bottomley (39) 1-0; Horsfield (43) 2-0; Bottomley (46) 3-0; Horsfield (71) 4-0; Colville (80) 5-0; Shotton (og 85) 6-0.

Guiseley (4-4-2): Dickinson (Hughes, 74); Atkinson, Bottomley, Richards, Heseltine; Cawthorn (James, 65), Brockie, Allen, Roberts; Colville, Horsfield (Fleming, 85).

Durham City (4-4-2): Race; Shotton, Bragan, Briggs, Holden; Robson, Carter (Irwin, 70), Robinson, Ord; Wright, Taylor. Substitutes not used: Callaghan, Graham (gk).

Referee: R Furnandiz (Doncaster).

(Photograph omitted)