In front of a healthy crowd of 103, Baldock Town came away from Bell Close with a place in the Quarter-Final of the Premier Division Cup safely tucked away.

With numerous changes in the starting line-up after Saturday’s FA vase victory, the Reds went a goal behind after 25 minutes when they let in an own goal and they went in at the break still chasing the match.

After 20 minutes of the 2nd half, Daril Ngwala was replaced by Kieran Barnes and 12 minutes later a piece of Barnes magic levelled the score. The ball came out to him on the corner of the penalty area and he placed a glorious dipping shot, out of the reach of Leighton’s keeper, into the corner of the net. Baldock captain Liam Kenna later tweeted that this was the best goal he had seen while being on the same pitch – high praise indeed!

The score remained level at the end of 90 minutes and so the tie went to a penalty shootout. Converted spot kicks from Alfie Barker, Kieran Barnes, Sam James and Owen Robertson were enough for the Red Army to win by 4-2.

Baldock Town: Harpur, Brooks, Priestner, M Lee (Furness), Kenna ©, L Lee, Joy (Robertson), L Barker, Ngwala (Barnes), A Barker, James. Unused subs: Holland, Farmer (GK).

Scorer: Barnes.
Penalties: A Barker, Barnes, James, Robertson.