Longlevens beaten on penalties as Thornbury progress in Hellenic League Floodlit Cup
Longlevens suffered a penalty shootout defeat at the hands of Thornbury Town on Wednesday night, following an entertaining 2-2 draw in the Wiseman Lighting Floodlit Cup.
Henry Driver-Dickerson’s 93rd minute leveller took the game to penalties after Levens had found themself behind in the game twice.
Cam Drew looked to have won the tie for his side with eight minutes left of the contest, after Brad Martin had initially cancelled out Callum Chalmers’ 61st minute opener.
Thornbury took the initiative in the shootout when Mackenzie Welsh saved from Josh Mason, but Luke Garbacz sent his effort crashing off the crossbar.
But as penalties went into sudden death, Soyan Sherchan unfortunately dragged his penalty wide, giving Fraser Moss the tasks of winning the tie, which he duly obliged.
Thornbury will now head to Hereford Pegasus in the Third Round of the Wiseman Lighting Floodlit Cup.
For the hosts, they won’t be completely upset to be out of the cup, with securing their Hellenic Premier status still the main priority over the coming weeks.
The first half saw both sides create a handful of half chances, with the two sides cancelling each other out for the majority of the half.
Brad Martin sent an early header flying off the crossbar in the opening minutes, whilst Billy Thomas saved well from a Fraser Moss effort after a pull back.
The only other clear cut chance saw Callum Chalmers sky his effort form 8 yards, right before the break – the forward would have known he should have at least hit the target.
Thornbury could have been reduced to ten man in the 45th minute as Joey Haswell latched onto a through ball, nodding past the on-rushing Welsh and the Thornbury keeper couldn’t avoid bringing the forward down.
The referee gave a free kick and a yellow card, but on another day and with a different official, he could have been dismissed.
Longlevens had the first big chance of the second half, but Martin skied his effort from 18 yards after being slipped in by Haswell.
And Thornbury would go down the other end and punish the miss, with Chalmers initially rounding Thomas, before composing himself and smashing past the recovering keeper.
Jack Byard, who had replaced Jack Holmes in the first half as he continued his road to recovery following an ACL injury, limped off for Longlevens with Shiyak Sutherland coming on and the change saw Longlevens approach a more gung-ho approach.
And it didn’t take long for the hosts to level, with Jack Beardsell’s cross wonderfully taken down by Martin before the forward rolled in his first goal for the First Team since breaking his leg over a year ago.
In fact, Martin back scoring will be a massive positive for Craig Martin and Michael Palmer, alongside the performances and impact a number of the “fringe” players had on the night, with Rob Perry impressing as the main centre back and Henry Driver-Dickerson, who also plays for Levens U18s and Frampton United, also imposing himself on the game when he came on.
A poor error between Beardsell and Rio Spencer saw Cam Drew win the ball, race through on goal and seemingly win the tie for Thornbury in the 82nd minute, but just as the game looked done in injury time, Shiyak Sutherland won a free kick 30 yards from goal.
Sutherland fizzed the effort in on goal, only for Welsh to get down well to save into the path of Josh Mason. Welsh did well to save again, but Driver-Dickerson was on hand to tap home and take us to penalties.
Longlevens are back in league action on Saturday, with a trip to Hereford Pegasus, before they head to Abingdon United on Tuesday night in the Marsh Challenge Cup, whilst Thornbury have a free weekend before they host Corsham in the Challenge Cup next midweek.
Longlevens: Thomas, Mason, Troke, Beardsell, Perry, Holmes, Brown, Sherchan, Knight, Martin, Haswell
Subs: Byard, Winman, Spencer, Driver-Dickerson, Sutherland
Thornbury Town: Welsh, Parry, A Fowler, Sage, Singfield, Garbacz, Drew, Moss, Chalmers, W Fowler, Evans
Subs: Brock, Kempster, Baker, Franklin, Clark
C Martin Roofing Man of the Match – Rob Perry (Longlevens)
READ MORE: Check out the list of fixtures in around Gloucestershire on Saturday right here
