By Kevin Marriott at The Mill

WESTERN LEAGUE LES PHILLIPS CUP FIRST-ROUND (TUESDAY)

Torpoint Athletic 2 St Austell 2 (after 90 minutes; St Austell won 4-3 on penalties)

ST AUSTELL edged the lottery of a penalty shootout at the Mill on Tuesday night after an absorbing, no holds barred 90 minutes failed to separate the sides.

While the Lillywhites live to fight another day in the competition, Torpoint will look back on opportunities missed, including a second half Harry Jeffery penalty which was saved by man of the match Andy Collings.

In the shootout, Collings also saved Josh Pope’s spot kick and touched Mason Elliott’s effort onto the bar.

Martyn Duff saw his penalty saved by Tyler Coombes but the other four St Austell penalty takers – Neil Slateford, George Marris, Callum Watson and Tom Whipp – had no such problem.

The tie had started well for Torpoint with skipper Luke Cloke firing them ahead in the ninth minute as the St Austell defenders appealed for offside.

Jeffery saw his 20-yard shot saved by Collings before he turned provider after 29 minutes with a superb cross from wide on the right which arrived at the unmarked Cloke, whose goal-bound header was deflected inches wide.

Torpoint’s dominance had brought only one goal and they were made to pay in the 43rd minute when a Marris corner from the left found Henry Wilson unmarked six yards out and he couldn’t miss.

St Austell spent so much time celebrating Wilson’s stunner, understandably, that they lost their concentration and within 90 seconds Torpoint were back in front thanks to an excellent Elliott header.

But the first half drama was far from over as the visitors were awarded a very generous penalty when Slateford went down in a challenge near the byline. Slateford picked himself up to score the resulting spot-kick and the sides were level.

After tempers had settled down during half-time, Torpoint resumed as the dominant side and Cloke had another glorious chance four minutes into the half but dragged his shot low and wide.

Seven minutes later it was Torpoint’s turn to be given a generous penalty when Cloke went down very easily as Damon Mulready challenged him near the byline. Referee Neil Hunnisett, who had allowed some bone chilling challenges to go without punishment throughout the game, was now unfortunately centre of attention.

And when Torpoint centre half Sam Hepworth did similar, dramatically stopping the progress of Matt Searle in the centre circle, some of the St Austell players appeared to be wanting more than the yellow card that was handed out.

Lillywhites striker Liam Eddy struggled to contain his disbelief and was sin binned by the official after dramatically waving a yellow card high in the air.

Once a sense of calm was restored, the pattern of the tie continued and it took a finger tip save from Collings to prevent Cloke putting Torpoint back in front in the 73rd minute.On another night Cloke would have walked off at the end with the match ball firmly under his arm. It turned out to be the last big chance of an enormously watchable game.

TORPOINT ATHLETIC: Tyler Coombes, Josh Pope, Matty Edwards, Lewis Vooght (Kevin McCallion 76), Sam Hepworth, Elliott Crawford (Mike Lucas 81), Harry Jeffery, Jed Smale, Mason Elliott, Luke Cloke, Fred Chapman. Subs: Dom Murray, Mike Lucas, James Forrest, Ryan Rickard (gk).

ST AUSTELL: Andy Collings, Matt Searle, Martyn Duff, Tom Whipp, Damon Mulready, Callum Watson, Neil Slateford, Henry Wilson, Liam Eddy (Kieron Bishop 73), Ryan Downing, George Marris. Subs: Jamie Gilbert, Kaden Stephens.

Man of the match: Andy Collings (St Austell).