Stroud Charity Cup Final Taverners 2 Thornbury Town 2 (aet) Thornbury win 5-3 on penalties

Thornbury finished their season in style on Friday night as they twice came from behind to deservedly win the Stroud Charity Cup at Shortwood United's Meadowbank Stadium.

County League rivals Taverners as usual proved to be stiff opposition and had the better of the opening exchanges, taking the lead after just nine minutes.

Having broken up a Thorns attack, they broke quickly down the right and an excellent cross was swept home by leading scorer Mark Harsant.

The early goal lifted Taverners still further and Town's midfield and attack found it difficult to make any headway against an uncompromising defence.

Gradually, Town's midfield trio of Gary Toal, Mark Viner and Alex Moss managed to get the better of their opponents and they were soon able to provide some good through balls for Lee Jasper and Andy Brookbanks.

However, they found it difficult to create any clear chances and the Tavs keeper was not seriously troubled.

The break came with Taverners holding their slender advantage, but Thorns came out determined to get back into the game.

They dominated the second half proceedings with Tom Payne causing problems for the Tavs defence and firing in some telling crosses from which Jasper and Brookbanks both went close.

Midway through the half another cross found Nick King in space just inside the box but his shot, which had the beating of the keeper, missed the far post by a matter of inches.

However, within five minutes Thorns were on level terms.

A sweeping move from the back saw Mark Viner find Tom Payne out wide who, having beaten his defender for pace, crossed to find Brookbanks, who fired home from six yards.

Thorns were now in the ascendancy but could not find that final touch to finish the game off.

The first period of extra time saw Thorns continue in the driving seat with Brookbanks hitting the bar with a piledriver from 20 yards, while Nick King was again unlucky with an effort that rolled just past the post.

Pressing forward as they were, Thorns were always susceptible to the odd counter attack, and were punished five minutes before the break.

A free kick was needlessly given away just outside the box and the defence, in which Andy Makepeace, Rich Thornton and Nathan Irwin had been rock solid all night, for once failed to deal with the threat.

As the ball floated over, a misunderstanding between keeper Lee Mason and Thornton saw Harsant nip between them to slot home.

The second period of extra time saw Town continue to push forward, but without creating any clear chances.

However, with just two minutes remaining and the Taverners fans already celebrating, the equaliser Thorns thoroughly deserved finally arrived.

Another good move saw Nathan Irwin feed the ball though to Mark Viner, who tried his luck from the edge of the box.

The keeper failed to gather the ball cleanly and the onrushing Rich Sage gleefully hammered the ball home.

The final whistle eventually came with no further score and the game then went into penalties.

Thorns scored their first three kicks through Gary Toal, Tom Payne and Rich Sage, but were matched by Taverners.

Andy Brookbanks fired home the fourth at which time the pressure told with Taverners putting their fourth kick wide.

Fittingly at that point club skipper Nathan Irwin stepped up and coolly settled the matter, sending the keeper the wrong way to ensure that Thorns lifted the silverware.