Our FA Cup Preliminary Round tie against AFC Rushden & Diamonds went the entire distance, with a penalty shoot-out required to settle the outcome.

Bruno Andrade had given the visitors the lead straight after the break, before Evan Garnett missed a penalty, then a sublime Luke Williamson effort pulled us level. We came within a whisker of winning the tie in extra-time, with an excellent clearance off the line, but The Diamonds would progress into the qualifying Round after a sudden-death penalty shoot out win.

We were forced into a late change to our starting line-up, with Connor Pace arriving late to the ground, therefore, his place was taken by Jahvan Davidson-Miller, who was originally named on the bench. Luke Williamson kept his place in midfield after an excellent full debut at Rushden in the previous game, and Curtis Durose also retained his place in midfield.

Rushden & Diamonds had the first chance of the game, but James Clifton fired over when well positioned with little over a minute played.

The visitors skipper Nketia was cautioned after a robust tackle in the middle of the park on James Taylor, before Curtis Durose had our first opportunity at goal, which was comfortably saved by Charlie Woods in the Rushden & Diamonds goal.

After quarter-of-an-hour, The Blues produced the best move of the game so far, with Durose, Taylor and Garnett all linking up well, but could only force a corner.

Lewis King made the first real save of the game on 21 minutes after Adegbola found space in the area and fired towards goal, but The Blues number 1 was able to get a hand to the ball and divert it out for a corner.

Taylor and Durose linked up once again, with Taylor, who had already scored 2 FA Cup goals this season, shooting past the keeper, but a save on the line from the defenders outstretched leg kept the scores level at 0-0.

On the half-hour mark, Evan Garnett's cross/shot was palmed away by the keeper, forcing another corner, with The Blues in the ascendency.

Diamonds defender Tejan Thomas seemed harshly booked after bringing down Davidson-Miller on the edge of the box, and Callum Cocks hit a well-taken free-kick towards goal, which was well saved by the Diamonds 'keeper.

Just before the break, a swift Rushden breakaway down the centre of the pitch cut us wide-open, and Lewis King came to the rescue, rushing off his line before clearing the ball away.

There was time for James Clifton to volley an effort wide of the post when well placed , before the half time whistle was blown.

The first half action didn't quite end there, with Blues assistant boss Aaron Cole shown a straight red card as he was walking off the pitch following words with the officials.

With the game still goalless, the first few minutes of the second half certainly brought it into life!

Within a minute, Rushden took the lead, but with some controversy...After a ball played forward, the assistant raised his flag for offside, and some Blues defenders switched off, but the referee waved 'play-on' and Bruno Andrade smartly shot past King, before everyone looked to the referee who waved for the goal to stand. A sucker punch for the hapless Blues, who had once again played their part in the game, but had fallen behind once more.

If we needed an instant lift, we were given one shortly after when Garnett was clipped in the box and we were awarded a penalty. Unfortunately, Garnett's well struck effort was placed centrally and Woods was able to punch the ball away, to the relief of the Diamonds supporters.

Davidson-Miller was finding space down our left hand-side and after a close call on 70 minutes, just 2 minutes later, he was able to find Luke Williamson with a pull back, just outside the area. The former Sandiacre man struck the ball sweetly and it nestled into the corner of the net and we were back on terms once more.

We looked the most likely to find a winner in the remaining 20 minutes, but we were unable to conjure up the telling opportunity needed to get our noses in front, and after 4 minutes of stoppage time, the referee signalled the end of regulation time.

The first period of extra time passed without any incidents, but The Blues came agonisingly close to wining it in the second period.

First, Connor Pace, on as a substitute, jinxed his way towards goal before his effort was deflected wide, then Taylor had a shot, which was also deflected, this time just whistling past the near post. Evan Garnett then had an opportunity with only the keeper to beat, but with little time to hit the ball cleanly, the keeper was thankful to block the strikers effort. With just 5 minutes left, we had another chance, this time the golden opportunity we had been waiting for. After a good move down our right, Connor Pace, inside the penalty area, placed a shot into the far bottom corner of the net, the keeper well beaten, but somehow, a Diamonds defender got back and right on the line hooked it away - though it did look briefly that he may have hooked it into his own net, but it would go out for a corner kick.

Neither side could find a winner in the final moments and the game would be decided by the lottery of penalties.

Going second, Garnett made no mistake this time, to level the spot-kick scores, but Jamie Hanson, on as a late substitute, hit his effort against the woodwork and back out of play. However, this would signal the first of 4 successive misses, with King saving 1, before Harry Eden blazed over, only for Andrade to blaze his own effort high and wide. James Taylor restored parity at 2-2 after 4 penalties each, but after that, we only had spot-kicks to stay in the tie. King himself took penalty number 5 to force sudden-death, but Bucci would miss the decisive 12th spot kick, superbly saved by the keeper diving away to his left to seal the victory for The Diamonds by 4 spot kicks to 3.

Rushden progress into the next round, whilst the Blues winless run goes on...