Worcester City 1-1 Scunthorpe United (13-14 on penalties)
- Published
Non-league Worcester City's FA Cup heroics ended after the longest penalty shootout in the competition's history saw Scunthorpe reach the third round.
In a breathtaking tie of 54 chances, the League One side won 14-13 after 32 penalties had been taken.
Miguel Llera missed his first spot-kick before firing in the winner when City's Wayne Thomas saw his penalty saved.
Paddy Madden's header had put Scunthorpe ahead but Sean Geddes coolly steered in a second-half equaliser.
Carl Heeley's Worcester side, who play in the Conference North - the sixth tier of English football - can still feel proud of their efforts in this seven-match cup run, which included a 2-1 win at 1987 winners Coventry in the last round.
In a game that saw 28 chances for Worcester and 26 for Scunthorpe, the visitors nearly took the lead in the opening minute, but home left-back Tyler Weir somehow managed to block the attempt.
The visitors also went close when Lyle Taylor forced City keeper Nathan Vaughan to save with his legs.
But, roared on by their noisy fans crammed into the home end, the rest of the first half belonged to City. Winger Jordan Murphy caused problems and from one of his mazy runs the home side created their best opening when Mike Symons shot over.
Paying the penalty |
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The record for the longest League Cup penalty shootout was set in September when Liverpool beat Middlesbrough 14-13 after 30 spot kicks were taken. It beat the previous longest of 9-8 on three occasions - Arsenal v Rotherham in 2004, Man City beating Stoke in 1982 and Aston Villa beating Colchester in 1979. |
The longest in the FA Cup before this tie was Macclesfield beating Forest Green 11-10 in November 2001 in the first round. |
The record for the most successful consecutive kicks in English football is 29 when Brockenhurst beat Andover 15-14 in the Hampshire Senior Cup last year. |
However, the mood at Aggborough was shattered when City failed to keep out Madden's near-post header from Gary McSheffrey's corner in first-half stoppage time.
But it was not long before Geddes - hero of the first-round win with two goals against Coventry - rounded off an excellent team move by slotting home from eight yards.
That was enough to take the tie into extra time, during which Vaughan did well to parry a fiercely struck shot from Madden, before visiting defender Alex Davey placed a header just wide.
Then it was all down to the drama of penalties.
City's second penalty, from Nick Wright, was saved by Sam Slocombe, only for Vaughan to keep the home side in it when he saved Scunny's fifth crucial spot-kick from Llera.
When Danny Jackman then fired over the bar in sudden death, Vaughan again came to the rescue by saving from Matt Sparrow.
But, after a run of 16 successful penalties, visiting keeper Slocombe dived to the left to save from Thomas - and this time Llera kept his cool to earn his side a January meeting with either MK Dons or Chesterfield.
Those two teams have to replay their second-round tie after Chesterfield fielded an ineligible player in the opening tie, which they won 1-0.
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