Cheadle Town 1-1 Northwich Victoria (lost 3-4 on penalties)
The ultimate in heartbreaking ways to lose a cup tie...but what else can you do when it's a 1-1 draw after 90 minutes?
If this was a league match then both sides would have been happy with the draw. Alas, this is the Macron League Cup and, with extra time not an option, the lottery from 12 yards kicked in.
Vics arguably had the better of the first half and could have gone into the break holding a lead.
They forced Danny Whiting into a very good stop as early as the 3rd minute and he was there again at the near post on 18 minutes to block an effort after their no10 had cut inside from the right.
They had another excellent chance on the 25th minute when their no9 received a square pass inside and was completely unmarked with only Danny Whiting to beat; fortunately for us he took far too long deciding what to do and could only spoon his shot over the bar.
Apart from Joe Shaw heading a Liam Delaney free kick just wide that was pretty much it in terms of action in the first half. A howling, swirling wind was playing havoc - carrying through balls, holding up passes, blowing throw-ins out of touch - and ruining any chances of any flow in the game.
Danny Whiting was on-hand to claw the ball from underneath his crossbar after said wind had caught hold of a lofted Vics free-kick early in the second half with James Dunn's wild lash over the bar the only next significant piece of action a good bit later.
On the 68th minute the game suddenly came to life.
Rick Whyatt gathered the ball in midfield and pressed forward, evading challenges on his way before drilling home from the edge of the area to give us the lead.
It didn't last long.
A minute later a long throw-in was only cleared as far as the edge of the area where Vics' Oliver Walker was waiting to rifle home.
Pushing for the winner we had the better chances in the closing stages of the match.
On the 78th minute a lovely move ended with Rick Whyatt shooting wide when in a good posotion with a neat combination between Mssrs Collinson and Cotton resulting in the latter cracking a well-placed shot off the crossbar.
In stoppage time a short corner to Joe Nield was clipped over to the far post for a waiting Joe Shaw but he hacked his effort wide, sending our hopes of nicking this cup tie with it and us facing the prospect of a penalty shoot-out.
Our woeful record in shoot-outs was to continue as Vics ran out 4-3 winners in the lottery and booked themselves a place in the quarter-finals. This is how the shoot-out went:
0-1: Northwich Victoria score
1-1: Cheadle score, Liam Delaney
1-2: Northwich Victoria score
2-2: Cheadle score, Joe Nield
2-3: Northwich Victoria score
2-3: Cheadle miss, Callum Collinson hits the crossbar
2-3: Northwich Victoria miss, penalty blazed over the bar
3-3: Cheadle score, Rick Whyatt
3-4: Northwich Victoria score
3-4: Cheadle miss, Robert Brocklehurst's penalty is saved
No rest for the wicked. We make the long trip up to Holker Old Boys this Saturday....
TEAM: Whiting, Nield, Ratican, Delaney, Shaw, Harrison, Dunn (Ambrose), Wood (Brocklehurst), Cotton, Whyatt, C Sherrington (Collinson). SUBS: Ambrose, Allcock (gk), Collinson, Farrow, Brocklehurst.
