Woodside Road rises to remember a Worthing legend. The game kicks off under scattered Sussex clouds. Red shirts surge and spin in an early onslaught. And Danny Cashman is scoring again from 25 yards.

He is simply a joy to watch, worth the price of admission alone. There were five or six moments in the first half where he was utterly unplayable: twisting and turning his way into space, funnelling the finest of passes, and providing the precision that ultimately secured his side’s spot in the next round.

A draw in Dorset seven days prior had frustrated Chris Agutter, but a point provides a platform and this was the stage to spotlight their superiority. Ollie Starkey and Alfie Young entering the XI, they offered something a little different in a game where Worthing had to use all of their nous.

Dartford’s minds were still wandering when Jack Spong played a short corner into the path of Cashman who, allowed to drift and roam into a shootable angle, spied the top corner. The finish is pure and perfect – akin to last Saturday’s fine drive from distance, this one was a beautiful curling, snaking, spiralling thing that had no intention but to rumble the very top corner of Jacob Marsden’s goal.

Riding the brief waves of Kentish blue, there was more fine football on display from the Reds. This was Worthing at their brilliant best, Agutter-ball in full flow. It would have been the first half museum piece they so dearly coveted if not for Jacob Marsden’s reactions in racing out to deny Mo Faal a certain second after fine build-up play from Cashman and Spong.

Faal was a constant menace with his pace and tenacity. It’s the drive and zeal that seals it – a striker that is as good as your favourite record: you just can’t turn him off. He had his chances, slapped the palms of Marsden with an arrowed drive, and freed up the space for his counterparts to attack.

But then there were the times that would make the heart rates rise. Worthing are a side that like to build out from the back, draw the opponents in. This works, most of the time. But when it doesn’t, as the Dartford attacking line showed when it raced to swarm Chris Haigh’s box, it places unwanted pressure on the defence.

Too often were Ady Pennock’s side gifted possession in their opposing half, and only for their own wastefulness were they not level as the whistle for half time echoed around the ground. Haigh didn’t have to move his hands a great deal, but he was certainly active and Dartford undeniably willing.

The Darts returned with a similar verve, but an equally similar number of squandered chances. George Whitefield saw a shot blocked whilst Josh Hill clanked the foot of the post, and they’d pay the price with 53 minutes on the clock, as Marsden brought down Cashman in the box. Whistle. Penalty. 2-0. Dartford’s life in this year’s FA Cup hastily drifting away.

The third arrived shortly after. The Darts’ defence is defeated again as Marsden makes a mess of a long, clipped pass. Willard gets there first, skipping around the ‘keeper before cruising beyond the last man. The finish is as easy as they come.

A better side might have inflicted a little more pressure on Chris Haigh’s goal, but the Reds’ quest for a much-desired clean sheet crumbled through Eddie Dsane’s low strike into the opposite corner. It takes a certain kind of striker to find the corner from that angle, and Dsane has the quality to turn an afternoon on its head.

Woodside Road was an anxious place for the remaining quarter of this match. Dsane might’ve altered the script further if not for his volley ten minutes from time that slammed back off the post. Or just a few minutes from time when he struck straight at Haigh. This isn’t the finished Worthing article, but improvements are being made with each passing week.

Starkey and Young played the full 90 here, and looked very much at home. Starkey showed his sheen late on, riding a number of challenges before playing a precise pass into the path of Harrison Smith, who couldn’t quite add a fourth.

For Cashman, this was perhaps his finest performance of the season. It wasn’t just his quality on the ball, it was his movement away from it. Opposition players just can’t keep up with him.

And as for Agutter, whose side is just one win away from the First Round Proper, he can take much solace in his side’s progress. Three more goals under the Sussex sun, it’s onto Monday’s draw to determine who next stands in the way of a potentially prominent first round tie.