Devon Intermediate Cup

Lamerton 3

Belgrave 3

(after extra time Lamerton win 4-3 on penalties)

LAMERTON progressed through to the fourth round of the Devon Cup after a tense encounter against Plymouth and district division two side Belgrave, who took the Duchy Premier side all the way to a penalty shoot-out to decide the outcome of this third round cup tie. 

Lamerton handed Belgrave the lead in the 10th minute, when goalkeeper Chris Wearing lost possession while trying to clear the ball to safety. Belgraves' centre forward picked possession from the error by Wearing and from 20 yards out calmly slotted the ball into an empty Lamerton net.

The hosts drew level midway through the first half when James Montgomery delivered a low driven cross from the left byline to Richard Searle at the near post, who neatly slotted the ball into the Belgrave net.

Lamerton had a golden opportunity to go into the break ahead, when left back, Tony Jones, played a perfectly weighted ball to Paul Cowling, who broke the Belgrave offside trap. With just the Belgrave keeper to beat, Cowling struck a side footed effort that sailed narrowly wide of the left hand upright.

James Steer gave Lamerton the lead a minute into the second half, when the central midfielder struck a delightfully chipped shot off the crossbar from the edge of the 18 yard box. However, the hosts lead lasted just two minutes, as Belgrave levelled when Lamerton were caught napping from a corner.

Lamerton pushed forward in search of a winning goal but a combination of good defending from Belgrave and some poor attacking decisions from Lamerton, resulted in the game going into extra time.

The first half of extra time saw Belgrave take the lead early on when Lamerton keeper Chris Wearing was beaten by a fierce dipping shot from 20 yards. Lamerton were awarded a penalty with five minutes of extra time remaining, when Blair Vanstone was brought down inside the box. Player manager Ed Bradshaw stepped up but it was saved by the Belgrave keeper. 

With less than two minutes remaining the hosts were awarded a second penalty when Jamie Steer was brought down just inside the Belgrave penalty area. Simon Kelly made no mistake by hitting the back of the net to take the cup tie to penalties.  Chris Wearing was the hero for Lamerton in the shoot-out as the keeper saved well from the first Belgrave penalty. 

With Lamerton scoring from all of their spot kicks and Belgrave missing the target with their final penalty to put the Duchy Premier side through to the fouth round.