Shaftesbury 2- Falmouth Town 2.
Falmouth Town and a small band of very vocal supporters made the long trip to the lovely Dorset town of Shaftesbury in a bid to reach the third qualifying round of the FA Trophy, but left the competition in the cruellest way as they lost the lottery of the penalty shoot-out 4-1 after managing a creditable 2-2 draw at the end of normal time.
Falmouth welcomed back Olly Walker and named the new signing from Wadebridge FC, Kieran Bishop, on the bench.
Martin Duff and Harrison Jewell started from the bench, also as they returned from suspension.
The game kicked off two minutes ahead of schedule, and the 3-O-Clock chimes hadn't even been struck before Shaftesbury had opened the scoring.
The ball was played out to Jack Lovell to the left corner of the area.
Falmouth failed to clear it, and Lovell hit a speculative, curling shot which evaded Falmouth goalkeeper Morgan Coxhead and found its way inside the far post, all within 30 seconds of the start.
It was an early blow for Falmouth, but they responded well and had a 10-minute period where they took the game to Shaftesbury with a series of crosses and corners dealt with well by the home defence, but at the end of that period, they fell victim to another clinical move.
In only Shaftesbury's second attack, Leighton Thomas broke down the right and delivered a deep cross to Jack Lovell again at the far post, who headed low into the corner to make it 2-0.
Falmouth again looked the more likely to score but were dealt another blow after 32 minutes when Ollie Walker was forced off with an ankle injury.
However, and with 10 men whilst Walker was being attended to, a great team move from Falmouth resulted in the influential Luke Barner, looking ever more threatening as he comes back from his long-term injury, driving at the Shaftesbury defence.
A pass into the box found Jack Webber, who took a touch and drove a powerful shot inside the right-hand post past Taylor in the Shaftesbury goal.
Falmouth continued to push, and on 41 minutes, a free kick from Tom Annear was tipped over the bar, and from the resulting corner, Bradley Leivers' powerful header hit the bar and ran to safety to keep the score at 2-1 to Shaftesbury at the half-time break.
Despite the scoreline, Falmouth would have been optimistic going into the second half as they were marginally the better side and they continued their dominance at the restart.
Jack Webber was turning in arguably his best performance of the season, and Kieran Bishop, on for Walker after 35 minutes, was looking effective down the left flank with his pressing and tenacious tackling.
It was all Falmouth for the first 15 minutes, and they forced a great save from Taylor from a corner to keep the score at 2-1.
The next 10 minutes, however, were Shaftesbury's, but this time and against the run of play, Town equalised in the 27th minute.
A great move down the left started with Barner, who found an intelligent run by Bishop.
The ball was centred, and a failed clearance found Barner, who drove it past the keeper.
This seemed to stir the home team, and for the last 10 minutes, Falmouth were really hanging on, but defended admirably to claim the draw and take the game to penalties.
Salisbury opted to take the first penalty, and Alefe Santos D'abaria converted it successfully past Coxhead.
Leading scorer Rubin Wilson then stepped up for Falmouth but could not keep his powerful effort down, and it cleared the crossbar.
Two-goal hero Jack Lovell then stroked his kick past Coxhead to make it 2-0.
Harrison Jewell was next for Falmouth, but his shot was saved well down to the right by Taylor.
Falmouth needed a Shaftesbury mistake or some heroics from Coxhead, but instead Harry Baker made it 3-0 with a confident effort.
It was now sudden death for Falmouth, and Kian Thomas opened the scoring to make it 3-1.
Jack Hoey knew that his penalty would seal it for Shaftesbury, and his well-placed kick evaded Coxhead to send Shaftesbury through to the next round.
It was a fighting performance from Falmouth against a Shaftesbury side who may well challenge at the top end of the table this season, given their cup and league form so far.
Falmouth can now concentrate on climbing up the league after their recent cup exploits, starting with the visit of high-flying newcomers Hartpury University on Tuesday night, before visiting Melksham Town next Saturday.
Shaftesbury: Taylor, B.
Holmes, Burden (c), Stanley, Pike, Mundy, Farugia, Howy, Baker, Lovell, Thomas.
Subs: T Holmes, Santos, Roberts, McKeown, Rayfield.
Falmouth Town: Morgan Coxhead, Bradley Leivers, Ned Symons, Tom Annear (c), Fred Walter, Luke Barner, Jack Webber, Jared Sims, Olly Walker, Luke Brabyn, Rubin Wilson.
Subs: Kieran Bishop.
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