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Controversial Penalty Shoot-out decision decides GFA Challenge Trophy tie
GFA Challenge Trophy
First Round
Cirencester Town 2 - 2 Stonehouse Town
(Pens 3 – 4)
The First Round of this season’s GFA CHALLENGE TROPHY brought STONEHOUSE TOWN to The Talent Hire Stadium and in horrendous weather conditions a competitive match was all-square at the end of the 90-minutes, and the dreaded Penalty Shoot-out was decided by a controversial decision from the Referee in favour of the visitors who move into the next round.
In absolutely horrendous weather conditions, heavy rain and strong wind throughout, the two sets of players should be congratulated for putting on such a competitive, hard-fought match that in the end was decided by a controversial Penalty Shoot-out decision.
The match started at a fierce pace and the home side opened the scoring when ALFONSO DIAS headed home a deep cross from Fraser Bell after seven minutes, and despite playing into the strong wind and surviving a number of dangerous attacks from their very lively visitors the hosts retained their slender advantage at the interval.
It took ten minutes for Stonehouse to draw level as HARVEY HUDD provided the finish from close range following a quick counter attack and five minutes later the visitors took the lead when a firm shot from Hudd was pushed into the air by ‘keeper Ronnie Newbery and then challenged by JAMOL DARE as he caught the rebound under the crossbar with the Assistant Referee flagging to indicate the ball had crossed the line.
As the game entered the final phase Cirencester equalised when GEORGE PEARE provided a clinical finish after Ethan Rose had headed the ball into this path.
With the scores tied at 90-minutes the Penalty Shoot-out began with the visitors going first and by the fourth Penalty Kick the scores were level at 3-3 with Cirencester to take theirs – Alfonso Dias smashed his kick into the top right corner (temporarily giving Cirencester the lead or so they thought) but Referee James Curran decided that he had ‘stuttered’ in his run up to the kick and disallowed the ‘goal’ and denied him the opportunity to take it again. Stonehouse converted their fifth kick and Cirencester missed theirs so Stonehouse were through to the next round of the competition.
Click here to view a match report.
This entry was posted on 12 November 2025 at 22:47 and is filed under First Team | Miscellaneous. You can leave a response here.
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