Ebac Northern League clubs Washington and Bedlington Terriers look to have written their names into the record books after a marathon penalty shoot-out on Wednesday night. The two sides battled their way to a thrilling 3-3 draw during an action-packed 90 minutes in their Ernest Armstrong Memorial Cup tie at Ford Football Hub in Sunderland.
That forced the tie into a penalty shoot-out and the drama was only really getting under way as the two sides contrived to miss just five of the 54 penalties taken. It was Washington that finally progressed as former Newcastle United academy player Lucas Gamblin finally netted the crucial spot-kick to give his side a 25-24 win.
The shoot-out seems to have set a new world record with the current record set when 48 penalties were taken in a Namibian Cup tie in 2005 as KK Palace overcame Civics with a 17-16 win. It also surpasses the English record of 44 penalties as Wolverhampton-based Old Wulfrunians earned a 19-18 win in the shoot-out in a JW Hunt Cup tie last year.
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Speaking on Thursday morning, Terriers manager Andy Ferguson revealed the culmination of the shoot-out was well-timed, despite his side falling to a defeat. He told Chronicle Live: “I’ve never seen anything like that, it was crazy.
“What made it worse was the last penalty was taken, we hadn’t even shook hands with the opposition, and the timer went off so the lights went out at the venue. It’s crazy, what would have happened if we’d scored our last penalty?
“All of the penalties were of an excellent standard, we had seven lads playing under the age of 18 and we gave them a good chance. They did really well, they showed no nerves at all. We didn’t even know what the score was by the end of the game.”
Washington striker Brad Chisholm - who had hit a hat-trick in regular time and scored a last-minute penalty to send the tie to a shoot-out - added: “It felt absolutely unreal going through after a very long penalty shoot-out. I’ve never experienced anything like it before.
“I think every other penalty shoot-out I’ve been involved in has never made it past the first five and I’ve been in a lot of them. The craic between the players throughout the shoot-out was class, and it actually led to fewer nerves going around as it went on.”
Chronicle Live has contacted the Guinness Book of Records for confirmation over the record.
