Bristol City Under-18s held their nerve in a dramatic penalty shootout to lift the GFA Senior Challenge Cup with victory over Cheltenham Town at the High Performance Centre.
The Robins looked set to seal the win in normal time when Jed Meerholz headed home in the first half as they asserted their class with a dominant first half performance.
Cheltenham came out of the blocks with more impetus in the second half and had their tales up after Adulai Sambu missed from close range before Tom King's effort came back off the crossbar. Just as it looked as though City weathered the storm, Brandon Liggett drilled home from distance with eight minutes to play.
City stopper Mac Boyd would then make a dramatic penalty save in the last minute of normal time to take the game to spot-kicks, where he emerged the hero with another two saves to spark wild celebrations on the pitch.
It was an enthralling end to the came and a cruel end for Cheltenham, but for many of those City players out on the pitch, it would have been their first taste of silverware success. Here's three players that stood out on the evening.
Joseph James
The defender played as a right-sided centre-back in the back three but he also showed the qualities and attributes to move across to right-back if needed. One of his first acts in the game was to throw himself into a late barge on opponent Brandon Liggett, letting him know he was going to be involved in a contest.
He was the smallest of the central defensive trio but has a great leap which City were eager to take advantage of. The threat was evident in the first 10 minutes when a delivery to the back post narrowly evaded his run behind.
A few minutes later and City had their reward when Owers' corner found James at the back post. He knocked it back across goal for Jed Meerholz to steer home. James almost had one for himself when his volley was superbly stopped by Jude Franks in the Cheltenham goal.
There were three notable touches that highlighted his technical ability, each of which consisted of him smoothly controlling a lofted ball forward - one of which earned a roar of approval from the stands when he brought it down on his chest before coolly squaring it to keep possession.
He looked for the quick passes forward, picking out the runs of Callum Hutton who was playing as the No10, creating space and movement for his fellow frontmen.
There was still room for improvement - he was late to a challenge that allowed Zac Guinan to have an effort on goal but given the striker towered over him, James wasn't fazed by the physical test. He was also guilty of the rash tackle in the final seconds to concede the penalty which he will learn from. Fortunately, Boyd came to his rescue
Jed Meerholz
His header in the first-half should have been the matchwinner if it wasn't for Liggett's equaliser eight minutes before time. It was a brilliantly timed run from deep and he connected with his header perfectly to leave the keeper with little chance.
However, it wasn't just his goal that caught the eye. Playing in the middle of the back three, Meerholz looked to have the capabilities to play as a modern-day central defender.
He was cool, calm and collected on the ball, often dropping deeper to collect possession before feeding the ball out to the wing-backs in Taine Anderson and Raekwan Nelson. In one passage of play in the second half, he confidently strode forward, almost Rob Atkinson-esque, into the opposition's half to get City higher up the field when they were coming under increasing pressure.
There were a few difficult moments in the second period with the pace and runners of the Cheltenham forwards stretching the defence and leaving gaps behind but Meerholz was vocal to marshall the defence and keep the organisation.
Another moment in the second half that caught the eye was when striker Guinan got space in behind with just Meerholz to beat. The defender didn't rush or lunge into a challenge and instead held his ground, closed the angle, and ensured he blocked the shot.
He's also an aerial threat winning his fair share of headers when Cheltenham got the ball into the area while proving a nuisance up the other end.
Ephraim Yeboah
Bristol City obviously rate the forward highly with the 16-year-old featuring on a handful of occasions for the U21 side. Judging by his showing last night, it's evident to see why.
With the senior side looking for forwards to play at a high intensity with pace in closing the ball down, Yeboah seemingly has those attributes and if he can fine-tune areas of his game over the next couple of years, they may have a real talent on their hands.
Yeboah rarely stopped running throughout the contest, making those runs down the channels that opened up the Cheltenham defence. He had the confidence to take on his opponent and get to the byline before playing a delivery across goal.
After nine minutes he took a ball down brilliantly on his chest, turned, and saw an effort deflect wide for a corner. In the second half, he did something very similar when his chest control took the ball away from the defender, before taking a touch and drilling a tame effort at the keeper.
He's still understandably developing in areas, one of those being his finishing. He had the ability to engineer opportunities for himself but sometimes lacked the composure to put the ball in the back of the net. That will come, but his all-round game including his link-up with wing-back Anderson helped fashion chances.
It's also worth noting that it was Yeboah who held his nerve with City's final penalty, with his effort finger-tipped by the keeper into the side of the net.
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