Goals from Amaru Smith, Caleb Comp and William Rafferty saw United to a 3-1 victory against Crewe Alexandra in the Floodlit Cup.
United created the first chance of the game after Smith chased down a long ball forward in which he took around Crewe goalkeeper Luke Unsworth, before trying to find Ted Thomson in the box, but the Crewe defenders managed to get back and clear the danger.
Minutes later United goalkeeper, Shaun Petry made a great save to deny Will Holt from opening the scoring for the visitors. However, from the resulting corner, Crewe took the lead as Tom Graves rose highest to head home and break the deadlock after six minutes.
United responded well and thought they had equalised after Smith found the back of the net, but the assistant referee raised his flag for offside and the scoreline remained 1-0 to the visitors.
Three minutes later and United had levelled the scoreline. Once again it was Smith who found himself one-on-one with Unsworth and he calmly slotted it home.
United continued to dominate proceedings and took the lead in the game after 24 minutes. Crewe failed to clear a corner and as the ball bounced around in the penalty area, Comp reacted the quickest to backheel the ball through numerous legs into the goal to give United a 2-1.
After falling behind, Crewe began to apply some pressure on the United defence. Joel Ewusi found himself with an opportunity to test Petry from range, but Petry was up to the task and palmed Ewusi's effort over the bar.
The referee shortly after blew his whistle for half-time and United went into the break with a 2-1 lead.
United began the second period with a couple half-chances. Finley Cookson and Josh Wade both had goalward efforts comfortably dealt with by the Crewe 'keeper.
United made a goalkeeping change at the interval with Sam Worth replacing Petry. Worth was called straight into action too as he dived down low to his right to prevent Crewe from finding an early second-half goal.
After 51 minutes played, Smith thought he gave United a third goal in the game. He picked up the ball on the right-hand side of the box before striking a fierce effort which struck the post and bounced away to safety.
Four minutes later, Smith struck goalwards again but this time the ball rattled off the crossbar and was cleared away by Crewe before any United players could react.
On the hour mark, Ewusi had a huge chance to level the game as he was left in acres of space inside the 18-yard-box only to fire his effort straight at Worth who stood tall to keep United's one goal lead intact.
With five minutes of normal time remaining, Cookson had a chance to seal the victory, as he found himself with just the 'keeper to beat but he dragged his shot wide of the far post.
As Crewe committed men forward to try and find an equalising goal, gaps were left in their defence. United managed to launch the ball deep into the Crewe half, where Rafferty received it. Some excellent skill saw Rafferty flick it over the Crewe defender, before driving forward and releasing a superb volleyed effort into the back of the net to seal the victory for United.
As the goal celebrations ended, the referee blew his whistle for the last time seeing United secure a 3-1 victory and progressing through to the next round of the Floodlit Cup.
Starting: Petry (GK), Bolger, Comp, Cairns, Matthews, Penney, Thomson, Wade, Rafferty, Cookson, Smith.
Subs: Worth (GK), Bell, Edgar, Morton, Towers.
