East Cornwall Premier League Cup
Tavistock seconds 2
Bere Alston United 2
After extra time (Bere won 4-2 on penalties)
THIS second round tie was switched from Bere Alston to Langsford Park and on a bright October afternoon a bumper crowd were treated to an enthralling encounter between the two West Devon rivals.
Tavistock's Paul Simpson fired over the Bere crossbar in the first minute and Bere squandered a chance to grab the lead a moments later when Will Westlake saw his penalty, awarded for a push on Chris Bray, comfortably saved by Jamie Blatchford.
Tavistock went in front in the 15th minute when Paul Simpson seized on some sloppy play in the Bere defence and chipped Tony Rawlings from the edge of the penalty area.
Rawlings then pulled off two smart saves to prevent Tavistock doubling their lead and it was rather against the run of play that Bere grabbed an equaliser when Mike Curtis played in Nick Aplin who drove his shot past Blatchford.
Tavistock regained the lead on the stroke of half time when more hesitancy in the Bere defence allowed Paul Simpson to nip in at the far post and calmly slot the ball home.
Bere came out with more urgency after the break and went in search of an equaliser with Chris Bray, Nick Aplin, Marcus Pethick and Mike Curtis all going close. In the 75th minute Bere's Aplin sent over a superb cross for Chris Bray to rifle a header into the top corner to level. After 2-2 at full-time the additional 30 minutes was end to end with Rawlings making two more great saves with opposite number Jamie Blatchford also busy.
A winner could not be found and so the tie was to be decided by a penalty shoot out. In the penalties, Rawlings pulled off a stunning save and with Bere holding a 3-2 advantage it was left to Nick Aplin to calmly despatch the deciding spot kick and send Bere into the next round.
n On Saturday Bere Alston play St Stephens Borough in the ECPL premier, kick-off 3pm.