KINGFISHER Ladies held their nerve to secure a thrilling penalty shoot-out victory over Kidderminster Harriers in the Worcestershire Women’s County Cup final.
The Redditch side won 4-2 on spot-kicks after a 3-3 draw to end Harriers’ hopes of winning the competition for a third successive year.
Harriers took a 25th-minute lead through a penalty before Kingfishers levelled matters with a spot-kick of their own coolly converted by Bex Ankcorn.
However, a lapse in concentration gifted Kidderminster the lead for the second time straight from the restart and it was 3-1 just before the break to leave Kingfisher staring at defeat.
In the second half Kingfisher keeper Leanne Bott made a string of fine saves to keep her side in the contest and there was fresh hope when Elloise Russell finished off a slick move by sliding in between goalkeeper and defender to bundle the ball home in the 73rd minute.
Kingfisher continued to apply pressure on the Kidderminster defence and were rewarded when 16-year-old Sammie Oliver capitalised on a mistake at the back to fire in the equaliser from outside the box.
The final went straight to penalties and Bott saved Kidderminster’s first before Ankcorn, Katie Edwards, Katherine Christopher and Aimee Higgins all scored to win the shoot-out for Kingisher to claim their first ever County Cup crown.
