The first team benefited from the reserve team game being cancelled as they called up Andrew James and Gary Wigmore to make up for six of the first team players being unavailable.

Gav Sampson started in goal with Stuart Yaxley, Tom Rimes and Michael Williams in front of him as centre backs. Gavin Earl made his competitive Cardea debut at right wing back with James filling in on the left.

The midfield three was Shane Cooke, Daryl Patrick and Aaron Yeoman with Daniel Robinson and Adam Simons up front.

Cardea lined up against a very strong Yaxley BL team who pushed them all the way in the league last season and came into the game off the back of a 8-3 hammering of Guyhirn last week.

Yaxley made the better start to the game but the Cardea defence dealt with everything that was thrown at them. Cardea grew into the game and started to create some chances.

Robinson almost opened the scoring as he took advantage of a mix up in the Yaxley defence to nip in between the defender and the keeper and got to a bouncing ball first but his shot went just over.

Robinson had a second chance moments later and he made the keeper work this time. Cooke took the ball past a couple of midfielders and played it to Robinson on the left of the box who shot back across goal and the keeper made a good one handed save to deny him.

Yaxley took the lead just after the half hour mark. Lewis Leckie held the ball up well and played in Steven Coles on the right edge of the area and his first time shot flew past Sampson, who complained it hit a divot!

Half time arrived and so did joint manager Kev Webster who had spent his Sunday morning at church.

Webster's prayers were answered just three minutes into the second half when Cardea scored two goals in a minute to take the lead over a shell shocked Yaxley.

First Cardea worked a short corner with Robinson megging a player to find Earl and he did well to get space in the box and his cross was superbly headed in by Yeoman, who looped his effort over the keeper to score the equaliser.

Cardea took the lead a minute after the kick off. Robinson chased down a ball over the top and worked hard to keep possession and passed to Patrick who played it on to Cooke. The Cardea number 9 picked his spot and lashed a great effort into the corner from 20 yards with the keeper left standing.

The lead was nearly extended on the hour mark when Earl crossed a great ball into the box but Simons couldn't control his diving header and it went wide.

Yaxley BL then started to apply the pressure and won numerous corners but all were well dealt with by the away team. Rimes, Yaxley and Williams were fantastic as a defensive unit to limit the chances for Leckie, who scored over 50 goals in the 2013/14 season.

Substitute Michael Creek injured himself warming up when he attempted a step over and pulled his "back leg" (calf). But he recovered enough to come on for Gav Earl for the last twenty. His cameo didn't last as long as he would have hoped however as he was fouled with a minute to go and had to come off with a swollen ankle, Earl came back on for him. Gary Wigmore also came on for Andrew James.

The win was sealed in the 92nd minute and it came from a Yaxley corner. The goalkeeper went up for it but it was cleared and Earl set Cooke off down the left wing, the midfielder didn't look up to notice the keeper hadn't got back in his goal and ran to the corner dragging two Yaxley players with him. This left Patrick with acres of space in the middle and he received the ball and slotted it past the goalkeeper for his third goal of the season.

The referee brought an end to the contest and it was a great win for Cardea thanks to goals from the midfield three of Yeoman, Cooke and Patrick and a brilliant defensive display from the whole team.

After the game joint manager Craig Robinson said: "It was a solid all round performance, we were missing a lot of players but we all dug in deep and defended superbly. There's a real sense of togetherness and team spirit at the moment and it's paying off in the performances.

"We have beaten a really good side today and you all deserve credit. Big big win! First half Yeoman was class and 2nd half Willy won everything (time to take Leckie out of that pocket boys) and man of the match was Cookie, without his driving runs we wouldn't have won today, but every single player deserves a lot of credit for today. Buzzing!!"

Kev Webster added: "The 45 minutes of football I saw showed all the improvements from pre season. We attacked well, the shape looked solid, we hunted in packs, defended well and scored good goals. Was good to see the new lads settling in well and adding to the awesome team spirit and banter we had last season which again was shown after being 1-0 at half time."

"It was nice to see the old men out shine the young guns, well done Daz and Gav Earl. Also a big thanks to Frags and Gary for helping out the first team."

Cardea will travel to Huntingdon on the 19th October for the next round to meet Lord Protector United who smashed Division 4 side Longueville FC 16-3 in the first round.

Cardea are back in league action next week when they take on Farcet United at Bushfield.