Montpellier FC defeated Bishop’s Cleeve reserves in round two of the Senior Charity Cup after a fiery 2-2 draw that was ultimately decided on penalties.
Montpellier entered the tie, having received a bye in the first round, a full two divisions below Bishop’s Cleeve but this was of little relevance to Mike Hackett’s men, who twice held the lead in the match.
The first half began controversially when Jake Johnson was brought down in the Bishop’s Cleeve penalty area following what appeared to be a clumsy challenge. The referee however, saw nothing wrong with the challenge and waved play on, much to the disgust of the home fans.
Despite their grievances with the penalty decision, Montpellier did not allow their heads to drop and were rewarded shortly after when Ricky May headed them into the lead following a sublime floated ball into the penalty area.
The home side continued their attacking pressure immediately after the goal and shortly after were once again screaming for a penalty after Andy Crosskey was brought down late by the Bishop’s Cleeve defender, once again the referee signalled to play on.
It was the visitors who got the benefit of the doubt when they were awarded a penalty after Montpellier keeper Jack Maisner brought down an opposition player in his box before Jamie Barnes dispatched the spot-kick fairly convincingly to bring his side back on level terms.
The second half began with more attacking pressure from Montpellier, who regained their lead following a tidy shot from Lewis Peters who calmly slotted the ball into the bottom right of the Bishop’s Cleeve net.
However, much to the annoyance of Hackett, ‘Pelli’ were unable to take the sting out of the game and allowed Bishop’s Cleeve to draw level following Josh Zanelli’s headed goal.
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The remainder of the second half saw both sides muster a few half chances but neither were able to take a hold of the game, the referee blew the final whistle and the two teams were headed for penalites.
Bishop’s Cleeve had their opening penalty saved by Maisner and that set the tone for the rest of the shoot-out. Lewis Peters and Andy Crosskey converted whilst Bishop’s Cleeve missed their next two penalties.
It was Jack Townsend who converted the final penalty to send Montpellier through to the third round in what was one of the shock results of the weekend.
The result sends Pelli into the third round of the Senior Charity Cup, with their next fixture being an away clash against Newton First as Hackett’s side look to extend their lead at the top of the table.
