Downton 4 Corsham Town 4 (Corsham won 5-4 on penalties)

11:25am Tuesday 18th November 2008

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Wiltshire Senior Cup

James Ford was Corsham’s hero after he struck the winning penalty to send them through to the next round of the competition after a thrilling game at Downton.

The visitors were 4-2 down with just minutes left in normal time of the fixture before producing two late goals to take the game to extra time, and then to a shootout, where they produced five perfect spot kicks to progress.

“It was a cracking game and probably didn’t deserve to have a loser,” said Corsham caretaker boss Graham Learmonth.

“In the end though it was an amazing recovery by the lads who showed absolutely tremendous character.”

Corsham took an early lead through Adam Heath and should have gone two up soon after, only for Tom Smith to miss a penalty.

Learmonth said afterwards he thought the game would have been won there and then had that gone in, and they were made to pay when the home side equalised.

Liam Browne restored the lead only to see it cancelled out again before Downton scored two more quick goals to lead 4-2.

A goal in the 89th minute seemed nothing more than a consolation but Browne grabbed his second with the last kick of the game to force an extra half hour of play.

An uneventful extra period took the game to penalties where the first eight takers all confidently converted.

“I always had four people in mind, but James put his hand up for the fifth and said he wanted it,” said Learmonth.

A Downton miss put the game on a knife edge, but Ford showed nerves of steel to calmly place his penalty in the back of the net and send his side through to the next round.