Jacob Fairbrother saved the decisive shootout spot kick to send the University of Gloucestershire into the Western Conference Trophy final at the expense of Solent University.
A hat-trick from Rene Nistor saw the winger steal the show during the game, before a nail-biting penalty shootout after an action packed 120 minutes.
After a cagey opening to the match, the hosts took the lead when the Solent keeper came out to collect a through ball, however was second best to Nistor who took the ball under his control before lobbing the ball into the abandoned net.
Manager, Tom Deakin was delighted with his forwards performance saying: “That’s the best I’ve seen him play all season, he was superb, I gave him the job of running at them, get behind them and be a threat. The second goal alone deserved the win.”
After a switch of play out to the edge of the box, Nistor set himself up before volleying into the top left corner leaving the keeper flailing, before turning round to celebrate his goal in front of the rampant home supporters.
Solent showed immense character to fight back from 2-0 down and block out the taunts and chants from the home support. The travelling side were gifted a goal when Fairbrother failed to fully clear a long ball that allowed an attacker to lob the stranded keeper, similar to the first goal of the game.
Moments later, a cross from the right-hand side found its way to the head of the Solent substitution who converted past Fairbrother to tee up another 30 minutes of action.
It was a tired affair in extra time with players paying the price with cramps throughout.
“I thought the game as a whole we were on top for the majority, going two up just after half time was probably justified,” evaluated Deakin.
“We let them back in with a couple of mistakes and then extra time we were on top again. I think over the 120 minutes we deserved to win the game.”
Towards the end of the first period of extra time, Jack Bright came out best in the box after a corner and poked the ball towards Nistor who was in the perfect spot to convert home his hat-trick.
Much like they did in normal time though, the hosts failed to hold onto their lead when the Solent attacker broke through the midfield and found himself one on one with the keeper, before calmly placing the ball into the bottom corner.
Gloucestershire showed the determination to find the winner and came agonisingly close when Billy Woolridge’s header struck the crossbar, before being denied by the keeper once again just moments after, leaving nothing to separate the sides after two hours of football.
Seb Wade stepped up first for the home side however saw his penalty sail over the bar, leaving Gloucestershire with a mountain to climb early on.
After a set of flawless penalties, Solent were one kick away from the final but for a heroic Fairbrother save to offer hope.
Just like he had in the game, Nistor found the net with his penalty to put the pressure back onto the away side who had to score.
The attacker who showed composure in extra time to score their third stepped up, but Fairbrother stole the headlines, diving the right way and setting off a pitch invasion from the emphatic set of home fans.
Encouraged by what he had seen, Deakin rallied: “You’ve got to feel confident after that, performances have been good since Christmas so now hopefully we go into the final with a crowd behind us like we had today, everybody was brilliant.
“We go again and hopefully can win some silverware.”
