Midweek cup football: Hythe & Dibden seal spot-kick joy, Totton & Eling triumph, but Brockenhurst, Blackfield & Langley and Lymington Town all falter
FIVE local sides faced off in midweek cup action on Tuesday, with penalty shootout winners Hythe & Dibden and eight-goal Totton & Eling progressing.
Hythe were taken to the brink by lowly Hedge End Rangers, squeezing through a shootout after a goalless draw, while Totton & Eling fired eight goals past QK Southampton Reserves.
Hedge End Rangers and QK Southampton Reserves play in Hampshire Premier League Division One, three steps lower than Hythe and two lower than Totton.
Meanwhile, there was less joy for Brockenhurst, Blackfield & Langley and Lymington Town, who all suffered defeats.
Hythe made it into the third round of the Southampton Senior Cup after a highly competitive contest with Hedge End, who made a blistering start and could have been two goals up within five minutes.
After the break, Hythe improved drastically, and only wayward shooting, excellent goalkeeping and goalline clearances stopped them from taking the lead.
With the final whistle, the match moved to penalties and, after multiple saves from both keepers and poor penalties, Hythe triumphed 4-3 as top-scorer Marcel Laptas converted.
Things went much smoother for Totton & Eling, who ruthlessly fired eight goals past QK Southampton Reserves in the Southampton Senior Cup.
The Millers took the lead after just six minutes as Dylan Walker punished lax defending, pouncing on a loose ball and firing home.
Despite the quick start, QK steadied the ship until two goals three minutes before half-time. First, Harry Yeadon turned Danny Clarke’s cross home before Sam House smashed home as the keeper parried into his path.
The floodgates opened after the break, with former Brockenhurst FC lynchpin Brad Magookin placing a free-kick in the corner before House grabbed his second in the 52nd minute.
Yeadon grabbed the next two, completing his hat-trick before he assisted the game’s final goal, Henry Mott finishing nicely.
The night’s final Southampton Senior Cup match saw 10-man Blackfield & Langley easily dismantled 7-1 by Hamble Club.
The Watersiders were already trailing by two goals when Arshia Sheibatzadeh received a second yellow.
Although Dom Panesar-Dower did pull one back, it counted for little in the face of a Hamble onslaught.
Brockenhurst and Lymington Town both exited the Velocity Wessex League Cup after respective defeats to Alresford Town and Shaftesbury.
The Badgers looked in total control after taking a two-goal lead into the break against Alresford, who play in the division below.
Marcelo Rossi continues to show his class, bagging a sixth-minute goal before Elliott Pearce-Eavis doubled the advantage in the 20th minute.
Although Alresford pulled one back through Sam Adams with 15 minutes left, it looked like they had navigated their way through until Sanchez McLean scored a last-gasp leveller.
The shootout’s first effort, by Sam Steel, was saved, but Brockenhurst keeper Ahmed Mohamed restored parity.
Five successful spot-kicks followed before heartbreak arrived in the guise of a Tyler Wellman miss, sending Alresford through.
Lymington Town have struggled to find the back of the net since the season started, but a recent influx of new players has seen them rediscover their scoring boots.
However, they exited the cup in a 3-1 loss to Velocity Wessex Premier league leaders Shaftesbury, with their only strike coming from a defensive mix-up and own goal.
