Cup joy for Horncastle as they reach semi-final on penalties
Horncastle Town progressed to the League Cup semi-finals last weekend after a penalty shoot-out victory over Louth Town Reserves.
Town battled for 120 minutes but could not find a way through the Louth defence, so spot-kicks were needed to settle the tie.
The visitors scored their first, and skipper Toby Cotton responded by slotting his away. Will Rawdon was next for Town to make it 2-2. Town’s third of the day was well saved, but Louth’s advantage was soon gone as their fourth taker blazed over the bar and Lee Wilson smashed his home for 3-3.
Goalkeeper Harry Masters saved Louth’s fifth to put Town in the driving seat, leaving Liam Cotton to nervelessly stroke the winning penalty into the top corner.
And joint-boss Will Rawdon felt it was a win his side deserved.
He said: “Louth are flying high at the top end of our league so it was a great day and played in a great atmosphere in front of a season’s best crowd of 222 for which the coaching staff and players are really grateful.
"Not many teams at the bottom end of step seven get crowds like we do so it just shows the support the town is willing to give the team.
"It was a true stalemate with not many chances for either side and it wasn’t the greatest of games and both teams were just missing that bit of quality.
"Louth were very direct with the big man and small man up front for them but our back four stood up and dealt with it. We had passages of play that showed we were the better footballing side.
"It went to penalties and against their young side, it was our young side that stood up to it and showed more bottle. We had seven under-18s in our team,18-year-old goalkeeper, and we made 18-year-old Toby Cotton our captain on the day, so it was a pleasing day all round.”
Having had numerous breaks during the campaign so far, Horncastle now have another as their next game is not scheduled to take place until Saturday, March 15, when they go to Immingham Town in what will be the first of three away matches in that week.
Their next – and final - home league game will be on March 29 against Cleethorpes Town Reserves, followed by three more away matches.