Vauxhall Motors crashed out of the Cheshire Senior Cup on penalties against National League side Altrincham FC after missing all four of their spot-kicks in the shootout.
Motors went into the game brimming with confidence following their last minute winner against Ashton Athletic at the weekend. Manager Mick McGraa rotated his side with six changes, replacing star winger Michael Burkey, top goal scorer Lewis Buckley and number one Ciaran O’Loughlin.
The opposition, who will face Hollywood’s Wrexham next, brought a strong side with former Derby, Fulham and Preston midfielder Ben Pringle the highlight of the visitor’s team-sheet.
Vauxhall started the game as a side who had made several changes, struggling to get into rhythm going forward, but still putting on a strong defensive display with Marcus James and Greg Drummond marshalling the Motors back line.
The only notable chance of the half resulted in a goal, with a cross for Altrincham whipped in by Pringle and met by Vauxhall forward Conor Harwood at the near post, whose thumping header ended up in smashing into the top corner of his own goal.
Altrincham weren’t great value for their lead and both teams struggled to get a convincing foothold in the game. The Motormen’s best chance of the first half was created by Bobbie McDonnell who weaved in and out of three Altrincham defenders before firing a swerving shot straight at Ethan Gould in the Altrincham goal who palmed the shot away.
McGraa made changes in the second half to try and inspire his team to another fight back, bringing on Burkey and Buckley. The changes seemed to work as Vauxhall began to create chances with good link-up play between the two subs bringing about some edge-of-the-box shots which ended up wide of the target.
The first big chance fell to Altrincham striker Marcus Dinanga following some good work from Michael Gyasi. The forward found himself one-on-one with Motors keeper Matthew Corran, but his off balance shot was blazed so high and wide, it needed a fan to jump over the fence to retrieve the ball.
On 81 minutes Ben Dufton-Kelly was introduced to replace Simon Thelwell, and he was pushed up top to cause a nuisance for the last 10 minutes and try to create something for Vauxhall. Two minutes later his flick on put Lewis Buckley in who wriggled away from his marker and crossed to Bobbie McDonnell who slotted home to make it 1-1.
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Both sides settled for penalties and Altrincham were the first to miss as Elliot Osborne had his penalty saved by Corran. Next up was Lewis Buckley for the Motors, but his slip skewed the shot miles wide. 0-0 after one each.
Edward Jones was next up and scored for Altrincham to put them in the lead and scorer McDonnell was next, but he blazed over the bar. Miles Welch-Hayes was the third taker for the National League side and his penalty was saved before Burkey suffered the same fate for Vauxhall. Still 1-0 after three each.
Pringle scored for the away side meaning Jordan Deer had to score to keep the shootout going but Gould saved again to win the shootout for the Manchester side.
Table toppers Vauxhall now look to their next game in the North West Counties League against Prestwich Heys. They have the opportunity to extend their lead to 10 points following Wythenshawe Town’s loss to West Didsbury and Chorlton.
