AFC Totton fought through a marathon FA Cup replay at home to Whitehawk last night to book their preliminary round passage to Peacehaven & Telscombe this Saturday.
After forcing a 1-1 draw in Sussex, Stuart Ritchie's men were held 2-2 after 90 minutes at Testwood Park and 4-4 after extra-time before penalties finally prised the teams apart!
Danny Barker put Totton ahead from Mark Osman's cross and Pete Clarke doubled the advantage from 25 yards.
But Whitehawk hit back to force an evenly contested extra half-hour in which Totton struck twice from the spot through Scott Bundy and summer signing Craig Martin from Winchester City.
The two penalty heroes each netted again in the 5-3 shootout victory, along with Barker, James Sherrington and player-manager Stuart Ritchie.
Unfortunately for Totton both Stuart Salter and Gareth Byers remain suspended for Saturday's trip while Barker and his midfield understudy Mark Lloyd are both away.
"I can't pick a side at the moment, it picks itself - and that's terrible," said Ritchie, who is still awaiting the return of highly-prized defender Matt Parnell.
Andover's unbeaten start to the Sydenhams Wessex League campaign was not so much broken as smashed in last night's 5-0 home defeat by AFC Newbury.
With five players suspended and three out injured, the Lions made life even tougher for themselves when Danny Lewis was sent off for two bookable offences.
Guy Whittingham's Newbury took full advantage to make it four wins out of four this season, courtesy of Lee Chudy (2), Ashley Vine (2) and Anthony Alleyne.
Skipper Glen Damen, Vince Rusher, Gary Stockwell, Bobby Swayne and Gavin Richards were all sin-binned for the Lions, while Justin Bennett, Carl Jones and Paul Gulliver are injured.
Bemerton got back to winning ways, beating pointless neighbours Downton 2-0 thanks to two second-half headers from Neil Cole and Stuart Findlay.
Christchurch still have only one point in the bank following a 3-0 defeat at Bournemouth Poppies. Braceman, Charlie Dibba and an own goal did the damage.
"We played well to beat Bemerton last week, fell flat against VT on Saturday, but bounced right back tonight in a derby game," said satisfied Poppies boss Shaun Brooks.
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