WHITCHURCH suffered a heartbreaking penalty loss to US Portsmouth on Wednesday night as they were knocked out of Hampshire Senior Cup following a dissapointing 1-1 draw.

Having gone behind just after half time, an Andre Manders equaliser gave them hope going into extra time.

However the Jamboys had two of their penalties saved in the shoot-out meaning US Portsmouth, who currently sit 21 league places below Whitchurch, progressed through to the second round. 

United were on the back foot early on, when US Portsmouth’s Fraser Clark, playing wide right, made a good run and picked out Mark Robinson on the edge of the six yard box, but he couldn't get the ball out of his feet and the chance came to nothing.

This was the only challenge on the Whitchurch goal in the first half as the teams went into the break with the scores even.

Just after half time, US Portsmouth took the lead with some good play on the right between Robinson and Pete Lines, with Robinson getting behind the Whitchurch defence before squaring to Lines for the easy tap in.

For the next 20 minutes Whitchurch piled the pressure on the away side, with a flurry of good chances to keep goalkeeper Peter Houkes on his toes.

This was all capped off when a corner from the right hand side was hit by Andre Manders, before it ricocheted of Portsmouth second half sub Harry Bass and into the goal, with the strike awarded to the Whitchurch player.

As both teams battled for a late winner, the scores remained 1-1, and after an uneventful extra time period, the game was decided with penalties.

Whitchurch faltered early when their first two penalties were not converted, the first because of a good save by Portsmouth’s Houkes, and the second a miss over from the Whitchurch penalty taker.

With US Portsmouth scoring their shots, captain Matt Austin had to stay cool under pressure to keep his side in the shootout.

There was still a glimmer of hope going into the final round of penalties as Danny Sharatt’s missed for the visitors to keep the scores at 2-1.

Whitchurch scored their penalty to bring the tie to 2-2 but Rich Warwick kept his cool to score in front of the Longmeadow crowd and dump the Jamboys out of the cup.