DEBUTANT goalkeeper Alexey Dallaway proved the hero as Earlswood Town beat Cadbury Athletic on penalties to advance in the Les James Challenge Cup.
Following a 1-1 draw after 90 minutes, Dallaway saved two of Cadbury’s six penalties in the shootout – having already saved a spot kick in regulation time at The Pavilions.
That came after debutant Jake Potter put the Earls into an early lead only for Scott Devlin to equalise for Cadbury on the hour mark.
Earlswood’s side featured six debutants as Alessandro Pierpoint, Phillip Mann, Elliot Kelleher and Joe Kelso made their bow for the Earls.
And the home side made the perfect start when Potter opened the scoring after just five minutes when he raced clear down the left and beat Fraser Oliver in the Cadbury goal via the aid of the post.
Further chances came and went as Potter and Jon Hamer both failed to extend Earlswood’s lead.
However, Cadbury won a penalty on 26 minutes with Bert Kashala penalised for a pull back only for Dallaway to superbly keep out Callum Devlin’s spot kick diving to his right.
Dallaway made another fine save to deny Devlin again soon after as the Earls took a narrow lead into the break.
Cadbury eventually equalised on the hour mark as S Devlin fired home while the Earls introduced two more debutants – Archie Power and Qadeer Parvaiz – from the bench.
The game eventually went to penalties as Louis Bridges, Potter, Johb Benjamin, Pierpoint and Harry Street all converted their penalties for Earlswood.
Only Mann saw his effort bounce narrowly wide
However, Cadbury pair Callum Fisher and Yousseff Elazhari saw their efforts saved as the Earls booked their place in the second round of the Les James Challenge Cup.
Earlswood begin their league campaign against AFC Solihull on Tuesday, August 6 with kick-off at 6.30pm at the Pavilions.
