HEREFORD Pegasus Ladies suffered penalty shoot-out heartache as they bowed out of the Adobe Women's FA Cup to Bitton, following a highly competitive second qualifying round tie at the KGD Stadium.
The hosts appeared to be heading towards victory until their South Western Regional League opponents equalised in the 100th minute before eventually prevailing 5-3 on penalties.
Bitton went ahead after eight minutes when Emma Louise Plant's free-kick from just over 25 yards out went through a crowd of players in the penalty area and nestled in the far corner of the net.
Pegasus were back on level terms seven minutes later when Harriet Adams was played through on goal by captain Emily Morgan before maintaining her composure to slide the ball past Zoe Hodgson in the visitor's goal.
The hosts went ahead for the first time in the tie when defender Scarlette Teague netted from a 75th minute corner.
The Bristol-based visitors equalised two minutes later after Pegasus custodian Katie Wood was unable to hold on to a shot in the wet conditions and Mary Brittain pounced to turn the loose ball home from close range.
However, Pegasus regained the lead in the 79th minute after Adams cut inside off the left touchline before drilling a low shot into the far corner of the net for her second goal of the afternoon.
It appeared that Pegasus had done enough to secure victory against their fellow tier six opponents.
However, Bitton broke free from deep in their own half in the tenth minute of stoppage time before Becky Sullivan eventually beat Wood from the edge of the penalty area to take the tie straight to a shoot-out.
Hodgson turned out to be the hero of the hour by producing the only save of the shoot-out as Bitton eventually prevailed on a dramatic afternoon.
Meanwhile, Hereford FC Women progressed in the FA Cup following a convincing 4-0 home victory against Longlevens LFC.
Mia Sherrard scored a brace while Robyn Mear and Amelia Griffiths also netted.
“I thought we played really well,” said Hereford skipper Olivia Barnes. “We were a bit slow to start but grew into the game and kept fighting. I thought we did really well to come away with a 4-0 result.
“There is going to be better teams in the next round so I’d like to play someone who is going to challenge us, we’ve got a lot of good quality young players.”
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