ANDOVER Sunday League side Swallow came through an 11-goal thriller to book their place in the quarter- finals of the Chris Price Cup.

Swallow went into the game as underdogs against a superior Winchester County side but battled hard through an agonising 120 minutes with Jay Elliot bagging an impressive four goal haul.

Swallow started on the back foot with County taking the lead in the 20th minute when a long clearance from the County keeper evaded Wayne Hunt for a bizarre goal.

It was a clearance from the Division One side that also led to Swallow’s equaliser as Elliot scored then snatched his second minutes later after a defensive error, giving his team a 2-1 lead at half-time.

The pace did not let up after the restart and Shane Lock’s 11th goal of the season put the home side into a comfortable 3-1 lead.

Swallow then missed a penalty and County scored with a devastating 20 second counter before netting the equaliser to put the game at a tight 3-3 going into the final few minutes.

Adam Durrans then thought he had won it for Swallow with seconds to go but it was not to be as Winchester scrambled the ball over the line with the very last kick of normal time to level at 4-4.

Extra-time started well for Swallow and Elliot rounded off his hat-trick before adding a fourth to give his side a 6-4 advantage at the added time break.

Winchester came out firing once more after the restart and it looked as if they would fight Swallow all the way after dragging the score back to 6-5 but the home side dug in for a tense final few minutes to earn a place in the final eight of the competition.

 

Sunday League round-up

Abbotts Kitchen 1 Vernham Dean 5

VERNHAM Dean won through to the next round of the Jimmy Monro Cup after a decisive victory and an astounding hat-trick from midfielder Phil Robins.

Prolific striker Joe Taylor scored his sixth goal of the season before Robins worked well with Ben Morris and Mark Griffith to score three successive goals.

Defender and new signing Adam Prior wrapped things up with his first goal for the George Inn sponsored side.

 

Barton Stacey 5 Sth Wonston Swifts 1

Barton Stacey began their defence of the North Hants Senior Sunday Cup with a comfortable win.

Bidding to win the trophy for the third consecutive year, an early goal from the prolific Zac Neve set the tone.

Terry Mthimkhulu added a second before Jamie Piper put the game out of sight before half-time.

Another for Neve and a sublime diving header from Louis Attrill wrapped up the scoring for the Graham and Co. sponsored side.