Cheltenham edge out Colchester on penalties

Posted Wednesday, August 15, 2018 by PA

Cheltenham progressed to the second round of the Carabao Cup with a 6-5 penalty shoot-out win over Colchester.

Colchester hit back from 2-0 down with two quick goals late on to force the shoot-out.

After Jordon Forster stepped up to convert Cheltenham’s seventh penalty, Courtney Senior blazed his spot-kick over the bar.

Cheltenham opened the scoring after less than a minute when Ryan Broom, on his full debut, slotted a shot past Dillon Barnes after a shot from Alex Addai was blocked in the box.

Colchester’s Luke Norris saw an overhead kick fly just wide in the 58th minute but Addai missed a good chance to make it 2-0 on the hour, shooting wide after being set up by Jacob Maddox.

But Cheltenham were awarded a penalty in the 71st minute when Maddox was brought down by Dillon Barnes. Conor Thomas stepped up and scored from the spot on his Cheltenham debut to make it 2-0.

Sammie Szmodics reduced the arrears in the 79th minute, finishing neatly past Scott Flinders after charging down a clearance from Joshua Debayo, and less than a minute later Norris smashed a shot into the net from 20 yards to level the scores.

Norris’ opening miss was cancelled out by one from Cheltenham’s Tom Smith but the hosts nudged ahead 6-5 before Senior’s costly miss.