Rustington through to meet Eastbourne Borough in Senior Cup

In the shoot-out, McCarthy guessed right to keep out Ryan Bradley, then in sudden death dived low to his left to deny Craig Hall, sending his side into joyous celebrations. Chris Darwin, James Bennett, Matt Huckett, Steve Kirkham and Ryan Hudson were all successful from the spot for Bues, while Adam Bibb’s kick was off target.

A scoreless 120 minutes had preceded the shoot-out, which in itself followed a dour, scoreless draw at Peacehaven some 11 days earlier. Chances were at a premium and it was three further penalty incidents which had been the major talking points.

On 15 minutes, Peacehaven won a penalty after Bradley’s right-wing cross was handled by Bibb. The decision was a little harsh, a case of ball to hand, rather than hand to ball, and the protests of Brett Neal earned him a caution. After a long delay, Robert O’Toole’s kick was pushed away by McCarthy to keep the scores level.

Then, 10 minutes into the second half, Rustington felt they should have had a penalty when Andy Boxall was manhandled to the ground by Adam Kneller, only for referee Darren Eaton to wave play on. On 73 minutes Rustington did win a penalty, Kneller again was careless in the box, tripping up Kirkham, but Bibb was unable to take advantage, as his penalty was pushed onto the bar by Josh Heyburn.

Peacehaven had edged the opening half with Bradley and former East Preston player Tom Levitt dictating play. McCarthy had to be at his best after 12 minutes to block O’Toole’s effort from 10 yards. It was McCarthy again who denied Clive Snell’s goalbound corner on the line after 27 minutes.

The introduction of Kirkham and Darwin on the hour mark helped liven up the home side’s attacking options with the pair frequently stretching the visitors. Matt Huckett and Ryan Hudson were probing for openings on a muddy surface which was sapping the energy from both sets of players.

Despite the home side’s increasing threat, Peacehaven had two great opportunities to win the match in normal time. Scott Marshall’s fizzing 20-yard effort on 63 minutes was pushed onto the post by a sprawling McCarthy and it was McCarthy to the rescue again four minutes from time when he beat away Ashley Rees’s goal bound effort.

With players tiring, extra-time lacked any real openings apart from Rees’ dipping effort which was tipped over by man-of-the-match McCarthy.

Rustington’s reward is a third-round tie at Conference outfit Eastbourne Borough.

RUSTINGTON: McCarthy; G.Sayers, Bibb, Neal; Bennett, Jones, Hudson, Wimbleton, Green; Huckett, Boxall. Subs: S.Kirkham (Wimbleton 59), Darwin (Boxall 59), Butt (Jones 95), C.Matthews, Adams.