1874 Northwich bowed out of the Cheshire Senior Cup at the hands of lower league Vauxhall Motors.
The hosts scored with their only shot on target in the 91st minute to make it 1-1 and force a penalty shoot-out which they proceeded to win 6-5.
Their goalkeeper Ciaran O'Loughlin proved to be the hero, saving three of the spot kicks and scoring his team's third penalty attempt.
1874 will rue not capitalising on their dominance earlier on at a bitterly cold vanEupen Arena.
They monopolised possession for most of the second-round tie but could not make the most of the chances they created against a packed defence.
The closest they came in the first half was when Mackenzie O'Neill's shot from an acute angle was cleared off the line by a defender.
They went in front two minutes into the second half with an own goal after a sliding defender touched Lucas Weir's cross into his own goal.
Vauxhall created a couple of half chances in the last 20 minutes before Kieran Garner-Knapper drilled home.
Sam Hare, Cal Gardner, Jack Irlam, Weir and Markell Fouldes made their spot kicks count in the deciding shoot-out, but efforts by Joe Woolley and Jamie Reed were saved and Jake Parker's penalty went wide.
Then when Mark Jones stepped up for 74's ninth penalty and saw his strike saved, it paved the way for Ethan Gouldbourne to net the winner and it meant Tony Aghayere's three shoot-out saves were in vain.
👏 Here’s our winning penalty scored by Ethan Gouldbourne! #COYM pic.twitter.com/t8WRIIbjLd
— Vauxhall Motors FC (@Vauxhallmotorfc) January 4, 2022
Doesn’t really feel like a loss after being unchallenged and in control for the large majority of the game.
— 74 LIVE (@1874MATCHDAY) January 4, 2022
But there is always that risk at 1-0 that you’ll get punished and thats exactly what happened.
And penalties, well they’re a lottery aren’t they?
On to Bootle, 74 👊
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