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By NTFC Admin | 1st February 2012

THERE can’t be too many fans out there who can, hand on heart, say they don’t like a good penalty shoot-out.

By Stuart Hammonds
Chief reporter

THERE can’t be too many fans out there who can, hand on heart, say they don’t like a good penalty shoot-out.

Phrases that have entered football lexicon in recent years, such as ‘Horrible way to lose’ and ‘There has to be a villain’, suggest they are as welcome as simulation and imaginary card waving.

But for me, they add that extra drama in the same way that we’re always fascinated to see how an outfield player performs in goal when there is no sub keeper.

I’ve been involved in a few penalty competitions in my time as a semi-professional footballer.

The one that sticks in my memory most was an FA Cup third qualifying tie for Arnold Town in 1997-98. The first game, at Winsford United, was memorable enough for our coach being impounded at Keele Services, meaning we had to complete the journey in taxis.

We arrived at the Barton Stadium at 2.55pm and kicked off 35 minutes later. We left with a deserved 1-1 draw after going down to ten men early in the game.

The replay finished goalless and we eventually lost 7-6 on penalties, yours truly blasting the sixth straight into the roof of the net before my sixth form pal, Jon Boulter, missed the seventh.

Winsford, of the North West Counties, went on to beat Penrith to book a first round proper trip to then-Football League club Chester City.

Even as a player defeated, it was better to have penalties rather than go to multiple replays, as was the case before the introduction of shoot-outs.

Of course, there are some penalty contests that can also go on..and on..and on. I was reminded of one in a book I received at Christmas, with Andrew Ward detailing many of ‘Football’s Strangest Matches’ since 1879.

One chapter is devoted to ‘The 28-penalty shoot-out’ from 1975, when North Korea and Hong Kong’s Asia Cup semi-final was settled 11-10 on the 28th kick.

There are also mentions of the Derby Community Cup tie in 1998 where two under-10 teams battled through a 66-penalty shoot-out before one won 2-1 – the first 60 were missed!

And the FA Cup record set by Forest Green and Macclesfield, when Rovers triumphed 11-10 in a 24-shot competition in 2001 – though this has been superseded by Tunbridge Wells beating Littlehampton 17-16 in a 40-penalty shoot-out in 2005.

The book repeats a story we ran in this paper in late 2001, which pours cold water over Wikipedia’s claims that Leyton Orient and Dagenham & Redbridge’s Johnstones Paint Trophy tie earlier this season contained a ‘world record’ 27 consecutive successful kicks.

West Riding County Amateur League sides Littletown and Storthes Hall entered the Guinness Book of Records for scoring 34 consecutive shoot-out goals in December that year.

And we can’t even say ‘at the end of their League Cup tie’, because with no floodlights at the Heckmondwike ground – save for spectators’ car headlamps and nearby street lights – referee Bob Hargreaves had to abandon proceedings at 17-17!