Witham Town 0 Stansted 0 (Witham Town won 7-6 on penalties)

BBC Essex Senior Cup Third Round, Wednesday 30th November

Spa Road was my venue for the final day in November and saw Witham Town knock Stansted out of the Essex Senior Cup to reach the Last 16, this after winning a penalty shoot out which included a melee and two red cards in what was a bizarre end to the evening.

The hosts played a level above their opponents in the Isthmian North however Town were on a slide after a solid start to their season, November had started well with a 3-0 success over struggling Gorleston but four straight defeats since had seen the hosts slide to 12th, so the county cup would prove a welcome distraction perhaps, although they were pitting their wits against one of the top sides in the Essex Senior League in Stansted so this was not going to be easy.

The Airportmen are having another solid campaign and sit in sixth spot, and having been the only side to defeat league leaders Enfield on their own patch eleven days ago, which was only one of two games they hadn't won this season, and also net four at Halstead in their last outing, they were coming into this one in decent shape so would have fancied their chances of knocking the hosts out.

On arrival at the ground I bumped into the Stansted management and committee and after they kindly bought me a beer in the clubhouse, once I had drunk this I made my way into the stadium, although I didn't have to pay as the hosts had kindly put my name on the gate, so I was very appreciative of this, special thanks to chairman Mark Nicolls and also first team fixture secretary Mark Bundock for arranging this for me, my late father would be smiling down on all of you right now.

They also invited me into the boardroom as well, which again I was very appreciative of, it really does make a difference and the club will always have a special place in my heart, and many of you will know why, always special memories when I do return to the club, and they certainly do a nice cuppa and serve up some decent biscuits as well, so I was all fuelled up for the contest, how would that go?

As it turned out, the main talking point of the entire evening was to come during the penalty shoot out, but more on that shortly, the actual game itself, well the ninety four or so minutes prior to shoot out was largely poor and lacked any type of quality, it was one of those games which can be swiftly forgotten about, but their were some chances for both sides.

Stansted actually started quite brightly but soon found themselves counting their lucky stars after the hosts missed some decent openings in the first period, and then at the start of the second period it was Town who were doing the counting of the lucky stars as The Airportmen failed to convert some guilt edged openings themselves, meaning the tie remained goalless.

It was fairly apparent too that the longer the game went on it was more and more unlikely this tie would not see a goal in the ninety minutes or so, Witham somehow missed from close range right near the end, firing over when it seemed easier to score, summing up the kind of evening it had turned out to be, so the inevitable shoot out then followed.

And in a total contrast to the game itself, some, indeed most of the spot kicks were sublime, with neither keeper getting near most of them, so after twelve successful kicks the score was 6-6, Stansted then ballooned their seventh one over the stand behind the goal, leaving the hosts a kick to win the tie, but what followed was truly bizarre.

As the referee and player who was about to attempt the winning kick asked for another ball, a fight, or melee, or pushing and shoving then broke in the centre circle between both sets of players, and it resulted in a red card a piece for each side, and also a booking for another Stansted player, it was a truly bizarre moment and one I have never ever witnessed in my 32 years of watching this sport.

Referee Michael Smith told me afterwards on twitter that it was a first for him tonight as well, and that sometimes they go through laws of the game tests and they think that'll never happen, well tonight it did, so says a lot, but it all meant that the final kick, as it turned out, didn't happen for about five minutes whilst this was all being sorted out, heaping a lot of pressure on the hosts to net that pressure kick.

Thankfully for them they did, and it meant the hosts squeezed through to Round Four, so some joy for them in what has been a difficult few weeks, although commiserations to the visitors who will now be solely focused on the league and maybe even promotion to Step Four, who knows, they are certainly within striking distance of those top two places if the ones above them falter.

Full time Witham Town 0 Stansted 0 (Witham Town won 7-6 on penalties)