Cheltenham 2-2 Colchester: Home side progress 6-5 on penalties
Wednesday 15 August 2018 00:51, UK
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 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.
