Rai Simons’ Ilkeston FC Academy side have achieved an FA Cup milestone by reaching the first round proper after defeating Nuneaton Town earlier this week.

Simon’s, who has been the Robins’ chief attacking outlet this season, helped his side to a 2-0 win over Nuneaton at the New Manor Ground.

A Luke Shaw penalty and a goal from Karum Shankar were enough to hand the hosts victory.

Ilkeston’s head coach Kevin Wilson has now backed the club’s youngsters to pull off an upset when they face Northampton Town in the first round.

“They’ve done incredibly well to get through all the preliminary rounds and make it to where they are now and they fully deserve to be in the First Round proper.

“It’s great for the football club in general.

“Now we’ve got to try and cause an upset by beating a Football League team, but we are capable of doing that and I think that, if we have a good day, who knows what could happen?

“All credit to the boys, we’ve created chance after chance and maybe we have to be a bit more clinical in the box. But we did enough to win it tonight, it’s a massive result.”

Simons, who signed terms for the English non-league side in the summer, bagged a brace against St Andrews FC in the previous preliminary round.

The 17-year-old has also played a handful of games for the club’s first team this season.