THORNBURY succumbed in the lottery of the penalty shoot out in the Les James League Cup final against Henbury at Kingswood.
The game summed up Thornbury’s season as they couldn’t turn their dominance into goals despite playing some delightful football.
Town opened brightly and could have taken the lead in the fourth minute when Steve Alexander got on the end of a Pete Newton-Smith cross but could not force the ball past keeper Phil O’Connell, who dived to his right to save the shot.
Henbury’s first attack after nine minutes saw the ball played through to Billy George, who drew keeper Rob Malcolm before slipping the ball through for Eddie Howells to tap into the empty net.
Thorns almost levelled on the half hour mark when, after a Chris Parry effort was saved by O’Connell, the ball fell to Steve Alexander and his goal bound effort was headed off the line by full-back Jack Bebbington.
Thornbury finally got the equaliser they deserved in the 43rd minute when a through ball caught the Henbury defence out and O’Connell upended Dan Thompson just as he arrived in the box. The referee had no hesitation in pointing to the spot and Chris Parry made no mistake.
Thorns started the second half where they left off and barely three minutes had gone when they took the lead.
A good move down the right involving Steve Alexander and Steve Thomson saw the ball laid off to James Derosa, who hit an unstoppable shot from the edge of the penalty area past O’Connell.
After having a penalty claim turned down Henbury broke down the left and the ball was pulled back for George Watts who missed a glorious chance to level.
In the 75th minute, Henbury equalised when Watts received a pass from Sandle and steered the ball past Rob Malcolm.
Thorns press hard for the winner and Thompson unleashed a great shot from the edge of the box that brought out a match winning save from O’Connell, who just managed to flick his swerving shot over.
With no extra-time, the game went straight to penalties and Henbury keeper O’Connell again proved to be the hero, saving three of Thorns’ spot kicks to leave his side the winners 3-1 on penalties.
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