Hinckley LRFC secured their spot in the third qualifying round of the FA Trophy with a 3 2 penalty shoot out win at Loughborough Students after a 1-1 draw after 90 minutes.

In a fairly even but uneventful first half it was Hinckley who had the opening chance after 2 minutes Chris Jones getting the wrong side of the defender but his effort was comfortably saved.

The Scholars grew into the game playing out regularly from the back and had the ball in the net on 15 but the ref gave a foul on Laban.

The best chance of the half fell to the Students a quick free kick along with a couple quick passes saw the Loughborough forward free in the box but Laban produced a good save.

The rest of the half passed by fairly uneventfully with Hinckley defending manfully to keep Loughborough at bay

The second half started slowly but on 56 minutes Nuttall had two glorious chances to give Hinckley the lead. After being played through the Students keeper made a good save and Nuttall followed up by hitting the outside of the post with the keeper out of position.

Moments later Loughborough were ahead, Halim Bangura found himself free between the Hinckley back line and slotted cooled past Laban.

After that it was all Hinckley, Sam Caroll off the bench got down the right hand side and teed up Jones but his effort went over and Lyne saw his cross-shot batted away by the Loughborough goalkeeper.

On 84 Hinckley were level, the returning Dom Brennan celebrating fatherhood with a goal capitalising on a Loughborough mistake. A throw in on the right hand side saw a miscommunication in the Loughborough back line and Brennan got inbetween defender and goalkeeper to make it 1-1.

Nuttall forced an injury time save from the Loughborough keeper but for the second time in two seasons Hinckley were heading to penalties in the second qualifying round.

Loughborough went first and Spiteri scored the opening penalty, Armstrong then made it 1-1. The second round of penalties were also dispatched, Callum Earls the scorer. The third round of penalties were both saved, Laban saving well and then Kears penalty was saved but nearly crept in forcing the keeper into a second save.

Loughboroughs fourth penalty was fired over by Williams before Brennan put Hinckley ahead for the first time in the shootout. Goalscorer Bangura stepped up fifth for Loughborough but also fired his penalty over meaning Hinckley equal their best FA Trophy performance making the Third Qualifying round as they did in the 2022/23 season.