Oxhey Jets and Sun Sports both put the Spartans Midland Premier Division to one side as they both picked up morale-boosting wins and progressed to the next round of the FA Vase.

Sun, who have endured a slow start to the league season, were 4-2 winners in the second round of qualifying at Bedfont and Feltham – who had appointed a new manager only that morning – while Oxhey edged through 2-1 against 10-man North Greenford United.

An all-action opening half-hour saw Sun race into a 4-0 lead inside 28 minutes, but the hosts grew into the game and Jamal Ramsey pulled a goal back before half-time.

After the break, Hicham Abdellah halved the deficit, but Sun Sports never looked in danger of losing their lead and could even miss a late penalty but still progress.

Manager Tim O’Sullivan said he hopes the club, which will travel to Peterborough Northern Star in the first round on October 22, can now enjoy a run in the Vase and get further than their their best-ever season, when they reached the second round in 2014.

He said: “It’s always great to have a run in the Vase if we can, and we will do the best we can and see where we can go with that.

“We came out of the blocks well and gave ourselves a good start; we blasted them early, but they are a team in transition with a new manager and had some players taking part in their first game too.

“It can go one of two ways, it either galvanises them or we can catch them out. After our start they were shell-shocked but they grew into the game and got better as it went on.

“That said, once they pulled it back to 4-2, we killed the next 10 minutes dead and after that we never really looked in any danger at all, and we could have won more comfortably had we scored the late penalty.”

Sun have only won one of their five league games so far, and no side in the Spartan Premier has played fewer games – down in large part to the club’s success in the cups.

O’Sullivan called the competitions a “welcome distraction” but admitted the club needed to improve its bread-and-butter league form, starting this weekend when they will host ninth-placed Hoddesdon Town.

“Our form needs to improve and it’s not great so far, or where we want to be in the table,” he said. “I don’t want to be too pushy because we have got a lot of new players and it will take a bit of time to get into them.

“Obviously we still have games in hand but I would rather have the points in hand. With a couple of wins hopefully we can push on up the league.

“We’ve played Hoddesdon already, in our first game of the season, and they won 4-0 so I’m hoping we can overturn that and get our season going in the league.

“It’s great having runs in the cups, but there’s no way I’m going to use that as an excuse.”

Elsewhere, Oxhey Jets fell behind early on in their qualifying tie at North Greenford to a goalkeeping howler but recovered to win 2-1 and reach the first round for the fifth year out of six.

A rare error from visiting keeper Rob Partington, 10 minutes in, gave the hosts the lead when he let Sandro Costa’s tame effort slip through his hands.

A scrappy game between the sides ensued, until a bizarre decision from home defender Ansah Palmer to display his goalkeeping credentials and dive to keep out a goal-bound shot with his arms ended with him enjoying an early bath.

Martin Netzer stepped up to slot home the ensuing penalty, and just before the half-hour mark the visitors were level.

With their man advantage, the game opened up, and Netzer turned provider 12 minutes later to play in Sim Armstrong, who looked a well-flighted header over the goalkeeper and into the net to give Oxhey the lead for the first time.

North Greenford looked revitalised after a talking to at half-time and enjoyed a number of spells of possession, but were unable to fashion too many clear-cut chances in the opening stages – until Jamal Velinor rattled the underside of the crossbar just before the hour mark.

That was as good as it got for the 10-man hosts, however, and they could not break down a stubborn Oxhey, who were happy to absorb their pressure and attempt to hit them on the break.

The full-time whistle was met with relief as Oxhey advance to the first round proper, where they will travel to Northampton Sileby Rangers.