A battling performance by Bexhill United, back under the Polegrove lights for the first time this season, saw them secure a win on penalties against local rivals Eastbourne United in the Royal Ulster Rifles Cup on Wednesday night.
After a race to get the ground ready following the end of the cricket season at the weekend, everything was in place for a feisty clash between two sides who know each other well.
Bexhill had a couple of good chances as the game settled into a lively pace and the Pirates saw a good opportunity go wide on 14 minutes and a decent save by Alex Hobden in the United goal kept things level on 25 minutes.
The play immediately shifted to the other end of the park, and it was Eastbourne who opened the scoring with Steve Smith breaking through and squaring a pass to Josh Thomas to slot home.
It remained 1-0 to the visitors at the break as the weather closed in, with the wind swirling rain around the old Polegrove main grandstand, sending the clearest signal that autumn is with us and the summer is done.
It was Bexhill who came out swinging in the second half and on 50 minutes Theo Coombs set himself and rifled an equaliser into the bottom corner.
No one could question the value of the entertainment as both sides now sought the win and there were chances at both ends.
Eastbourne re-established their lead when some chaos in the Bexhill box on 66 minutes saw an attempted clearance balloon into the net.
Off we went again, from end to end, and it was a lovely through ball from Kyle Holden running towards the box that set up Jack Shonk and he finished superbly, drilling the ball under the keeper, to bring the scores level again.
With Dale Penn sin-binned for ten minutes at a crucial part of the game, Bexhill had to dig deep to stay in the match and the Pirates had a bit of luck close to the end when an Eastbourne header cannoned back off the bar. It was the last chance before penalties.
There was more drama in the shootout with Hobden saving well from Shonk first up but it was Stef Akras who turned it round, saving two on the bounce and showing just what a brilliant stopper he is.
In the end it was down to Ryan Moir to blast home the winning spot-kick and see Bexhill through to the next round.
