Felixstowe and Walton United 2, Bowers & Pitsea 2. Bowers won 4-2 on penalties
Felixstowe & Walton United and Bowers & Pitsea met at the AGL Arena in Tuesday night's Isthmian North play-off semi-final, having both triumphed in their home fixtures against each other during the regular season.
Perhaps that made the Seasiders favourites, but it was the visitors who broke the deadlock on eighteen minutes, TQ Addy scoring his tenth goal of the season, an effort from distance finding the bottom corner of Josh Blunkell's net.
The visitors looked to be taking a lead into the half time break, but two minutes into added time the hosts drew level, Josh Mayhew first to a loose ball and firing home.
The second half brought chances at both ends but no further goals until twelve minutes from time, when the visitors got their noses in front once more, Benas Vaivada the scorer, getting on the end of a through ball from Olly Sotoyinbo. Once again, however, it was a lead they couldn't hold, and once again the equaliser arrived in added time, Josh Hitter finding the bottom corner to send the match into extra time.
The additional thirty minutes brought no further goals, so we were off to the unfortunate lottery of a penalty shoot out. After the first three penalties were scored, David Hughes saved the Seasiders second, but immediately Josh Blunkell pulled off a save for the hosts to restore their hope. Hughes, however, wasn't having that and saved the next United penalty too, and Bowers held their nerve to win four-two. Image from Nicky Hayes.
The final will take place on Saturday afternoon at The Len Salmon Stadium against Brentwood Town (who beat Bury Town tonight) as Bowers will be looking for an immediate return to the isthmian top flight, while Town will be looking to consign the memory of their shoot out defeat against Canvey two years ago to history.
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