Stanley frontman Will Hatfield had been getting some stick off his team-mates for not getting on the scoresheet this season.

So there was no better way to show them than to score four goals in one game in the world’s most famous cup competition and secure £18,000 for Stanley and a place in the FA Cup second round.

It was always going to be a tricky first round tie at Evo-Stik side AFC Fylde, who were dreaming of a giantkilling.

Stanley, more often than not the underdogs in such competitions, had to make sure they weren’t on the end of an upset at a tight ground which brought back memories of the Reds’ non-league days.

Hatfield, though, was the star of the show in seeing off the semi-professional side, leaving the former Leeds youngster clutching the match ball after the clash.

"It’s a day I won’t forget," said Hatfield, who last scored for the Reds in March after being in and out of the team this season.

"We knew it wouldn’t be easy. The gaffer has been saying all week that we can’t come here thinking they will roll over but our class has shown through.

"It was a great game to be involved in. My goals came at right time for the team and for me to score all four goals is a dream game.

"I was pleased with my first professional hat-trick so to get a fourth was perfect, but I am chuffed for the lads and the fans were also fantastic.

"Last season, towards the end, I scored a couple of goals and wanted to come into this season and get a few more. I have had opportunities and have not taken them and on Saturday I took all four.

"Now I want to play as much as I can – goals can help you stay in the team but nothing changes and hopefully I can get some more important goals."

Leam Richardson, in his first game as full-time Stanley boss, admitted he had been having a go at Hatfield this week.

He said: "I had been asking Will how many games it was since he scored. He said 13. I told him this would be his last if he didn’t score but he has just bought himself another 13! No, Will showed last year what a goalscorer he is and that’s why he is at the club. No one will ever take what he did on Saturday away from him.

"You dare to dream in the FA Cup and Will has started that dream.

"We knew this was a potential banana skin but we addressed it early in the week. We know they are a good team but we also knew not to underestimate ourselves and our quality has shown through.

"We had to be professional and have the right attitude and desire and we had that."

AFC Fylde, managed by former Tranmere long-throw specialist Dave Challinor, have aspirations of following Stanley into the Football League.

They are going well in the Evo-Stik Premier, their striker Adam Farrell having scored seven goals from the previous six games.

They believed they could upset the odds.

Going to Kellamergh Park was like rolling back the years for Reds’ fans, with two double decker coaches rolling up full of the buoyant Stanley supporters, the Reds all standing behind the goal with the drummer leading the way and also walking around the ground, mixing with the home fans.

If Fylde, who were in the FA Cup first round for the first time, had scored early on then the pressure would have been on Stanley and the home side created a couple of opportunities they couldn’t take.

But the Reds, with the same starting XI for the third game in a row, always looked like they would have enough, despite squandering a couple of early chances.

The first goal was always going to be important and, on 32 minutes, Lee Molyneux played in the perfect ball and Hatfield got ahead of his marker to head home the opener.

A 1-0 lead at half-time would have had Challinor happy but on the stroke of half-time, Padraig Amond’s effort was pushed out by keeper Ben Hinchliffe and Hatfield slid in for his second.

To be fair to Fylde they went for it with three substitutions at the interval and they tested the Reds early on.

They made a battle of it with Ian Dunbavin keeping out sub Paul Jarvis while Stanley’s Amond and Rommy Boco were restricted to long-range efforts and Hinchliffe’s feet kept out Molyneux.

The third goal would either give Fylde a leg up or seal it for Stanley and once again it was Hatfield who, after Murphy’s shot was pushed off on the line, popped up on 77 minutes.

There was still time for a fourth. Hinchliffe initially kept out Hatfield but he pounced on the rebound for the fourth.

Just before the end Farrell got a goal AFC Fylde deserved in the final minute to give the bumper home crowd something to cheer.

So Oxford next in the cup– and Stanley owe them one after the 5-0 thrashing last month with Hatfield aiming to be in the headlines again.