Worcester Royal Infirmary Cup
semi-final
Redditch United (0) 4
Stourport Swifts (2) 4 aet.
Stourport win 4-3 on pens
Redditch's grip of the Worcester Royal Infirmary Cup ended after a another night of drama at the Valley Stadium.
The Reds fought back three times, only to see their hopes of making the final cruelly dashed by the dreaded penalty shoot-out.
But it was amazing the game even reached that stage.
Stourport were first out the blocks and showed their intentions when Matt Cartwright headed narrowly wide after just two minutes.
It was a good opening spell for the visitors, who had five former Reds in their starting 11.
Their dominance told after 16 minutes when they took the lead.
Gary Hackett's whipped free kick from just outside the Reds penalty area was met by Cartwright who bundled the ball home.
Four minutes later they doubled the lead when a long defensive clearance caught the Redditch defence napping allowing Simon Marsh to nip and lob Mark Shiels, on his first team debut.
This did not deter the young keeper as he kept Redditch in the game with a couple of fine saves.
It allowed United to force their way as Neil Manton's sweetly struck shot five minutes after the break gave Reds hope.
They levelled nine minutes from time when Nicky Cross won a dubious penalty which was struck home by Micky Moore.
It looked like Reds had thrown it away when stourport substitute Mark Williams netted after errors in the home defence.
But Reds substitute Ian Bennett took the match into extra time with a diving header.
Swifts took the lead with Williams grabbing his second, which was cancelled out by Moore.
But he and Paul Danks suffered heartache in the shoot out as the Reds went out of the cup.
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