City miss out on County Cup final place in Weston penalty shoot-out loss

City missed out on a first Somerset Premier Cup final appearance for 10 years this evening, losing to Weston Super Mare in a penalty shoot-out at the Woodspring Stadium. The game finished 2-2 after normal time and, with both managers agreeing to forgo extra-time, it went straight to penalties, where misses by Tom Smith and Anthony Straker allowed the home side to progress to the final where they will face Paulton Rovers. The first-half saw both sides struggle to create any clear cut openings but it was the home team who led at the interval thanks to their only effort on target, an offside-looking Lee netting after Matt Richards had given away possession. The game livened up after the break and City levelled on 63 minutes when Andy Watkins sprung Weston’s offside trap to slot the ball home. And six minutes later he struck again, beating Kingston from close-range to register his 50th goal for the club. Opi Edwards was then denied by a great save from Kingston before Jack Batten’s was desperately unlucky to see his shot from just inside the City half strike the post. And Weston took full advantage of this good fortunate moments later when Welch levelled the scores again. Neither side could find a winner after this and the game went to penalties. After the first four efforts were successful – Richards and Antoine Semenyo on target for City, Welch and Kington for the Seagulls – Smith saw his shot strike the underside of the bar before bouncing down just the wrong side of the line. Greenslade and Jack Compton kept their nerve but Pope then saw his kick saved by Luke Southwood. However, Straker put his effort too near Kingston next up which gave Lee the chance to win the tie, which he confidently took.