By Oliver Birch - Sports Editor.
The University of Brighton's Hastings Campus continued their winning start to the season on Wednesday afternoon, beating the University of East London 4-1 on penalties, after a gripping 4-4 draw in the South Eastern Conference Plate.
The University of Brighton's Hastings Campus continued their winning start to the season on Wednesday afternoon, beating the University of East London 4-1 on penalties, after a gripping 4-4 draw in the South Eastern Conference Plate.
Following a heavily traffic-delayed journey up to East London, the Panthers made a shaky start to proceedings and were behind within the opening 10 minutes.
Quick work down UEL's left-hand side caught Hastings' defence napping, allowing the striker to slot home beyond Matt Milne to give the home side a deserved lead.
And matters went from bad to worse for the Panthers just moments later as UEL doubled their advantage in similar fashion to the first, with the chance created on the right-hand side this time around.
The away side were beginning to play their way back into the match however, and halved the deficit mid-way through the first half.
Ryan Taylor's quickly taken short corner allowed man of the match Zak Jakubowski to jink his way to the edge of the area, before firing a low drive past the UEL 'keeper to give the Panthers a lifeline, and grab his first of the game.
But the home side quickly restored their two goal cushion before Hastings could get back on level terms.
The UEL winger exploited the Panthers' left-hand side once again, before drilling a low cross into the area. The ball bounced around between both sides before the UEL striker grabbed his second of the game, after pouncing on a loose clearance to stab home.
However this setback failed to halt the momentum the away side were beginning to build prior to conceding, and Hastings twice came close on the stroke of half-time through Dan King, though both struck the post and went agonisingly wide.
Management duo Tom Dullaway and Sam Willett tinkered with the formation at the break, changing to an attacking 4-4-2 in an attempt to change the Panthers' fortunes.
The away side sparked into life under their new formation, playing some of their best football of the season, and found the crucial opening mid-way through the second-half.
Taylor won the ball inside his own half before playing to Callum Moriarty, who weighted the pass perfectly into Jakubowski's stride, and the striker produced a composed finish to grab his and Hastings' second of the game.
And just minutes later, a brilliantly worked team move levelled the scoreline for the visitors.
Quick interplay between debutant Rhys Daly, Ollie Salt and Panny Artemiou created space out wide, before Salt played into King, who flicked on for the overlapping Daly. The left-back cleverly cut the ball back for King, before the striker unleashed a pinpoint curling shot which nestled into the top right-hand corner for Hastings' equaliser.
The comeback seemed to be all but complete with 10 minutes remaining, as the Panthers took the lead for the first time in the match.
Jakubowski halted the UEL defence's attempt to play out from the back with a well-timed slide tackle, before sending Artemiou clean through on goal. And the midfielder calmly slotted the ball under the advancing keeper to grab his second goal of the season.
And the Panthers' fourth seemed to have knocked the wind out of UEL's sails, but with five minutes remaining, the home side found a controversial equaliser.
The ball was lofted over the Hastings defence to the home side's striker, who was flagged offside by the linesman as he was clearly offside. However, the referee decided to overrule the decision and allow the striker to slide the ball past Milne to draw UEL level at 4-4, and despite the away sides protests, the goal stood.
Hastings piled on the pressure once again in the final few minutes and could've sealed the victory with moments to spare, but the ball got stuck under the tired legs of King, and his shot was saved by the UEL keeper.
Under normal circumstances, the game would've moved into extra-time, however due to poor light, the referee decided to go straight to a penalty shoot-out.
Milne followed up Salt's opening successful spot-kick with a brilliant save from the UEL captain, tipping his effort onto the post to give Hastings an immediate advantage.
Taylor put Hastings 2-0 up in the shootout before UEL struck the post with their second, and Moriarty made it 3-0 with his spot-kick.
UEL did manage to pull one back, leaving captain Oli Birch with the decisive penalty to send the away side through. Birch stepped up and calmly slotted the ball into the bottom corner to complete an enthralling encounter, and give the Panthers their third win from three games this season.
It's back to league action for Hastings next week as they face Middlesex University, before hosting Portsmouth in the South Eastern Conference Plate the following week.
Quick work down UEL's left-hand side caught Hastings' defence napping, allowing the striker to slot home beyond Matt Milne to give the home side a deserved lead.
And matters went from bad to worse for the Panthers just moments later as UEL doubled their advantage in similar fashion to the first, with the chance created on the right-hand side this time around.
The away side were beginning to play their way back into the match however, and halved the deficit mid-way through the first half.
Ryan Taylor's quickly taken short corner allowed man of the match Zak Jakubowski to jink his way to the edge of the area, before firing a low drive past the UEL 'keeper to give the Panthers a lifeline, and grab his first of the game.
But the home side quickly restored their two goal cushion before Hastings could get back on level terms.
The UEL winger exploited the Panthers' left-hand side once again, before drilling a low cross into the area. The ball bounced around between both sides before the UEL striker grabbed his second of the game, after pouncing on a loose clearance to stab home.
However this setback failed to halt the momentum the away side were beginning to build prior to conceding, and Hastings twice came close on the stroke of half-time through Dan King, though both struck the post and went agonisingly wide.
Management duo Tom Dullaway and Sam Willett tinkered with the formation at the break, changing to an attacking 4-4-2 in an attempt to change the Panthers' fortunes.
The away side sparked into life under their new formation, playing some of their best football of the season, and found the crucial opening mid-way through the second-half.
Taylor won the ball inside his own half before playing to Callum Moriarty, who weighted the pass perfectly into Jakubowski's stride, and the striker produced a composed finish to grab his and Hastings' second of the game.
And just minutes later, a brilliantly worked team move levelled the scoreline for the visitors.
Quick interplay between debutant Rhys Daly, Ollie Salt and Panny Artemiou created space out wide, before Salt played into King, who flicked on for the overlapping Daly. The left-back cleverly cut the ball back for King, before the striker unleashed a pinpoint curling shot which nestled into the top right-hand corner for Hastings' equaliser.
The comeback seemed to be all but complete with 10 minutes remaining, as the Panthers took the lead for the first time in the match.
Jakubowski halted the UEL defence's attempt to play out from the back with a well-timed slide tackle, before sending Artemiou clean through on goal. And the midfielder calmly slotted the ball under the advancing keeper to grab his second goal of the season.
And the Panthers' fourth seemed to have knocked the wind out of UEL's sails, but with five minutes remaining, the home side found a controversial equaliser.
The ball was lofted over the Hastings defence to the home side's striker, who was flagged offside by the linesman as he was clearly offside. However, the referee decided to overrule the decision and allow the striker to slide the ball past Milne to draw UEL level at 4-4, and despite the away sides protests, the goal stood.
Hastings piled on the pressure once again in the final few minutes and could've sealed the victory with moments to spare, but the ball got stuck under the tired legs of King, and his shot was saved by the UEL keeper.
Under normal circumstances, the game would've moved into extra-time, however due to poor light, the referee decided to go straight to a penalty shoot-out.
Milne followed up Salt's opening successful spot-kick with a brilliant save from the UEL captain, tipping his effort onto the post to give Hastings an immediate advantage.
Taylor put Hastings 2-0 up in the shootout before UEL struck the post with their second, and Moriarty made it 3-0 with his spot-kick.
UEL did manage to pull one back, leaving captain Oli Birch with the decisive penalty to send the away side through. Birch stepped up and calmly slotted the ball into the bottom corner to complete an enthralling encounter, and give the Panthers their third win from three games this season.
It's back to league action for Hastings next week as they face Middlesex University, before hosting Portsmouth in the South Eastern Conference Plate the following week.