It was Vase heartache and disappointment for City today as having taken Premier Division Lordswood all the way to penalties, they eventually succumbed in the shoot-out to be knocked out of the competition at the first hurdle.

It was a tight and tense affair throughout and you never really knew which way it would go as both sides battled it out. City worked hard and unsettled their opponents who at time lacked the fluency you might have expected of a higher league side. In fact, City had chances to win it near the end, so not nailing those and then to lose in the way they did was really a double disappointment!

Looking very sharp and on their game early on, City almost struck in the first minute. A lovely curved ball from Rob Lawrence found Mo Cham whose agile take, touch and shot in fairly quick succession took a heavy deflection but still looped up towards goal but then dipped just over the visitor’s bar.

Cham went close again soon after when Jamie Obianigwe’s clever pass found him down the right and he surged forward into the box but a last minute defensive blocking tackle caused his shot to be easily taken by Lordswood keeper Aaron Lee-Wharton.

At the other end, the visitors were winning a bit more possession and Matt Gething burrowed his way through a packed box only to see his eventual prod deflected out for a corner. Lordswood won a series of corners over several minutes, but City defended their lines really well and a Gething header wide from one of them was the only opportunity garnered.

It was a pretty tense affair at this stage with City absorbing a lot of pressure around the midfield and just inside their own half, but Lordswood were rarely troubling City keeper Tom Benham despite their greater ownership of the ball.

Meanwhile City’s Leighton Murray fired wide after a mini break down the left, before Elliott Duncan headed a free-kick over the host’s bar. Another good opportunity then passed Duncan by when he shot wide when well placed, but to be fair, he did have Liam Hark snapping at his heels and making things very difficult for him in the process.

There was definitely a sense that City weren’t getting the rub of the green where the decisions were concerned with a lot of calls often puzzlingly going against them and when ex-City skipper Danny Keyte was cautioned for a foul just before the break, it brought out a rather loud and ironic cheer – not because it was him that had been cautioned, but because City had finally won a free-kick!

City ended the half on the attack though and Murray, hurried into his shot, fired over from around twenty yards, while a Lawrence free-kick just before the whistle was lifted into the visitor’s box, but to no avail.

Goalless at the break then with both sides working hard, but City looking more like they had a game plan in place with Lordswood not quite so and with some grumbling and debate going backwards and forwards between themselves as they trudged off to the dressing room.

The second-half was just as hard fought and both sides created chances and opportunities to take the game. Lordswood made the first openings as Brad Schafer’s firm shot was brilliantly charged down by Hark, before Gething made himself some space before seeing two City defenders converging to part block his effort before it looped up nicely for Benham to gather.

They then went close again when a fired in cross was well met with a header that Benham flew across to and just finger-tipped onto the bar before seeing it cleared to safety. City were pressing as well and Harry Sikirwayi saw a decent shot well blocked but the ball ran loose to Connor Coyne who, under pressure could only prod the ball wide. Schafer then had a foray into the City box, but with only Benham to beat he lifted the ball high over the keeper but the crossbar as well before Simon Kabamba then got on the end of a good City move – charging in at the back post he could only rasp his shot into the side netting.

Harry Flemming shot wide for the visitors before Benham did well to paw away a softly awarded Callum Peck free-kick. One almost straight after was also given without much cause and that one eventually came back out to Peck who, in his eagerness, sliced a shot well wide of the City goal.

Substitute Sean Aromolaran then almost had the perfect introduction, when within a minute of coming on, he weaved his way down the right wing before shooting straight at Lee-Wharton. Obianigwe was next but after his initial effort had been blocked by a Lordswood defender the ball pinged back out to him but he could only fire over from the edge of the box.

The tension was really building as the clock was ticking down and both sides did their best to try to win it in ninety and avoid the lottery of penalties. The visitors were the next to go close when Jake Embery broke into the box but with Benham and a defender in very close attendance, the shot took a double deflection and thankfully rolled just wide of the far post.

After that though, it was City that were looking by far the most likely to score and snatch the tie

Aromolaran then charged down field and into the Lordswood box, but with defenders eventually buzzing all around him, he ran out of space and options and the attack fizzled away. Kabamba’s long ball forward then found Cham on the run but under a close challenge and with the ball bouncing up in front of him, he flashed a shot inches wide across the Lordswood goal.

With the minutes ticking away, any goal now would likely win it and City went close again when Cham laid the ball off to Coyne whose shot across the keeper’s bows was on target, but Lee-Wharton dived to his right to push the ball away with a last ditch low single handed save.

With four minutes to go, ex-City player Nico Cotton was sin-binned so for the rest of the ninety, Lordswood were reduced to ten men and they duly continued to find themselves under considerable pressure. Aromolaran hit a volley well wide before Sikirwayi flashed a shot inches over the bar with the keeper in probably vain, but full dive mode.

Finally, and well past the three minutes of stoppage time signalled, the last chance of the game was also the final kick of the game and it fell to Cham when, from just inside the box, he rolled an effort agonisingly just inches wide of the post and thus sending the teams straight to penalties.

Unfortunately for City this was to prove their undoing as Benham was the only player from four attempts to convert and with Lordswood striking three from four it was they who squeezed through to the next round.

So a really painful afternoon for City. The whole side put in a tremendous shift, worked really hard and deserved much more on the day than a deflating penalty shoot-out loss. They took a higher league side all the way and matched them – some would say more than matched them at times but the ruefulness and disappointment at the end was palpable.

Final score: Canterbury City 0 Lordswood 0 (Lordswood win 1-3 on penalties)