Saints' FA Cup hero Nick Holmes must have thought the days were long gone when he would lord it on one of English football's most famous stages.

But 27 years after lifting the trophy at Wembley, the former Dell midfielder is on the march to that legendary Cup haunt of Hillsborough, where his Salisbury City side will face the once mighty Sheffield Wednesday in a 'David v Goliath' first round proper clash on Saturday week (November 8).

Roared on by a sizeable 1,190 crowd at the Raymond McEnhill Stadium, the Wiltshire club, whose flagging finances so nearly put them out of existence just 15 months ago, had too much quality in their locker for Sydenhams Wessex heroes Lymington & New Milton, who were beaten 5-1.

The £10,000 prize money shoots the Whites' total cash winnings up to £22,000 for the Cup run so far - and there's a promise of plenty more to come if, as expected, television and radio latches onto Holmes's fairytale return to the FA Cup big time.

A live broadcast on BBC or BskyB would net them a handsome £50,000 sum and there's £20,000 to be banked for TV highlights and up to £9,000 for commentary on BBC Radio 5Live.

Emerging from a packed and rowdy club bar, where the draw was screened live after Saturday's final whistle, Holmes grinned: "Financially it's wonderful news for us. Sheffield Wednesday are the biggest team in the Cup at this stage and it was the draw that everyone had been hoping for. Our directors wanted this one badly.

"For me, it's lovely to have the opportunity to go back somewhere like that - although I did say that I'd prefer to have drawn them at home first and then taken them up there for a replay!"

Club director Stuart McGlashan agreed: "This means everything to us - not only for the club but for the supporters too. We've been averaging gates of around 560 and this is payback time for the fans. We've had our troubles, but the players have done the business for us and I feel a lot for Nick and his assistant Tom Killick who have put in so much work."

As Cup fever set in at Old Sarum, Holmes did not forget to pay tribute to a useful Lymington & New Milton side, who played their full part in a cracking fourth qualifying round tie.

Just by getting to Salisbury, the New Forest club had equalled their best-ever Cup run and Saturday's final scoreline was a somewhat harsh reflection on their contribution to the game.

Holmes acknowledged: "They're a decent side with some good footballers and they always looked capable of scoring. They've got people from both ends of the spectrum - some very experienced lads and some young players with very good futures."

The Linnets got off to a dream start when Kevin Reacord stole in to meet Jimmy Sheppard's free kick at the back post and fire the Wessex underdogs into a spectacular 45-second lead.

Josh Thomas levelled six minutes later with a free header from Stuart James's corner, but it took a controversial penalty decision for Whites to go ahead in the 23rd minute when former Salisbury defender Darren Curtis was adjudged to have handballed Wayne Turk's volley.

The Linnets were adamant Curtis had been hit in the eye - and he had the bruise to prove it - but their arguing only succeeded in getting fired-up midfielder John Bailey into the referee's notebook before ex-Saint Adam Wallace calmly stroked home from the spot.

It was another disputed penalty awarded against Lee Hodder after a 50-50 tussle with substitute Aaron Turner that set the seal on a frustrating day for Lymington boss Ian Robinson.

Not only was he convinced that neither spot kick was justified, but he was upset that Salisbury nominated their goalkeeper Kevin Sawyer to hammer the final nail into their Cup coffin.

The big No1 expertly belted the ball into the bottom corner to make it 5-1 in the 87th minute, but Robinson admitted: "I didn't go much on the goalkeeper taking the penalty. They were taking the mickey. It belittled our efforts, which was unnecessary because we didn't deserve a drubbing. Class told in the end, but the referee got the two penalty decisions badly wrong.

"The first one knocked the stuffing out of us completely and how he envisaged that as handball I just don't know. Darren's got a black eye where the ball hit him and even Adam Wallace said it wasn't a penalty when he walked up to take it.

"But that's life, and we've still got plenty to look forward to - like the FA Vase. What I've got to do now is pick the players up."

After some outstanding saves from Linnets 'keeper Alan Walker-Harris, it was Salisbury super sub Darren Crook who again came on and changed the course of the tie.

Having sprung off the bench to bag the winner at Havant & Waterlooville in the previous round, it was the 20-year-old's darting left-wing run that set up Wallace to make it 3-1 in the 65th minute.

Crook bagged the fourth himself 11 minutes later, cleverly bringing the ball down before rifling home from the edge of the area.

Lymington's Paddy James, voted the national player of the second qualifying round for his hat-trick exploits against Clevedon United, should have had the last word, but he steered the ball wide of an open goal after being set up by namesake Kevin.

Holmes summed up: "We played well in places and so did they, but it's one of those days when you don't care how you've played - it's just great to have won!"