Blackfield & Langley FC beaten in dying seconds by Hartley Wintney FC in Hampshire FA Senior Invitational Cup semi-final

Hampshire FA Senior Invitational Cup semi-final

Hartley Wintney FC 3
Blackfield & Langley FC 2

BLACKFIELD & Langley suffered a heartbreaking 3-2 defeat to Southern League Premier side Hartley Wintney in the dying moments of regulation time to bring their cup run to an end.

Blackfield battled back to level the scores twice against Hartley, who play two division higher, before prolific Sam Argent scored his second of the match from close range with practically the last kick of the game.

The hosts had a chance to take the lead after just six minutes when Kinglsey Eshun burst into the box before a coming together resulted in the pacey winger on the floor and the referee awarding a soft penalty. Thankfully, Joe Besant dived to his left before flicking the ball past his post for a corner.

The competition's top scorer, Argent, terrorised the Blackfield defence. However, the opener came when he turned provider, teeing up Dom Griffiths, whose deflected shot from 18 yards found the bottom corner after 17 minutes.

Blackfield almost found themselves two goals down before the break, but heroic keeping from Besant saw the stopper put his body on the line to maintain the one-goal deficit.

The second half kicked off with Blackfield looking reinvigorated, and they drew level within minutes when Mitchell Speechley-Price scored his third goal in two games with a delightful header that flew past keeper Luke Williams.

The match became much more competitive, with tackles flying in, and the hosts were fortunate to be level still when Blackfield struck the base of the post.

But it was Hartley who regained the lead. After a succession of corners, Argent angled a bullet header past Besant from Josh Webb's corner.

Hartley Wintney were looking deadly from set-pieces, and they almost took the lead in the 70th minute when Ben Wright's header deflected off the crossbar. However, Blackfield immediately broke up the other end, and recent new signing Rudy Plummer showed his goal-scoring pedigree to level the match.

Blackfield thought they had found the winning goal with 10 minutes left before the linesman's flag was spotted signalling offside.

With seconds left, Griffiths picked out Anis Nuur, whose cross was headed in by Argent to break Blackfield hearts, with the final whistle and a penalty shootout moments away.

Blackfield restarted the game, and the referee immediately blew the final whistle.

Hartley Wintney will now host Folland Sports FC in the Hampshire FA Senior Invitational Cup final on 29th May.