Shoot-out success for never-say-die Rovers

AET, Wicklow Rovers won 5-4 on pens

WICKLOW Rovers’ Leinster Senior team travelled to North Dublin on Saturday to take on Balbriggan FC in the third round of the FAI Junior Cup.

Rovers went into this game on the back of an unbeaten run of six games since the start of the season, which consisted of a win and a draw in two league games plus four straight cup tie wins.

It’s now six wins and a draw from their seven matches after this typical cup tie encounter.

The lads came out on top after a penalty shoot-out in what was a tense exciting clash.

Normal time and extra-time failed to separate the two sides in a game which both sides gave a hundred percent.

It was Rovers who edged in front when Dan Tarcevskis with his third goal of the season gave them the lead.

The home side came roaring back with a couple of unanswered goals to go 2-1 up. But this Rovers team don’t know when they’re beaten and they kept knocking on the door in the search of an equaliser that would maintain their unbeaten run and they got their just rewards when Theo Smyth popped up with an equaliser in injury time to send the game into extratime.

In extra-time both sides went in search of a winner but both defences held firm, nothing could separate the sides and it was on to the dreaded penalty shoot-out to decide the outcome.

In what is always a nerve racking way to decide the outcome of a cup tie the

Rovers players coped well to progress. Adam Cox, Ian Brannigan, Aidan Small, Tom Smullen and Dylan Orr were all successful with their spot-kicks to see Rovers progress on a score 5-4 to earn a safe passage through to round four.

This was an excellent performance from Rovers and they left everything on the pitch as they gave it everything, so much so that they were out on their feet leaving the pitch.