Brackley Town will be in the Second Round of the FA Cup after they defeated Braintree Town on penalties at St James Park.
After a 0-0 draw in the 90 minutes and no goals in extra-time, spot-kicks were ultimately the deciding factor to determine which side would progress to the next stage.
Both sides would miss a kick in the first five penalties and each side also missed their sixth spot-kick, with Brackley goalkeeper Jonny Maxted saving two penalties while Zak Lilley and Alfie Bates both saw efforts miss the target altogether.
With the seventh round of kicks, Braintree’s Kyrell Lisbie was the unlucky man as his spot-kick struck the post. That decided the game in the favour of Brackley Town, who won the shootout 5-4.
Victory in the tie was an upset as the Saints side of the National League North side progressed at the expense of their opponents in the National League.
Brackley’s victory sees them advance to the FA Cup Second Round for the first time since the 2020/21 season, with the draw taking place tomorrow (03/11) during the BBC’s highlights show covering the FA Cup First Round highlights.
Red Bull picked up a double points finish at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix in Brazil, but a penalty saw Max Verstappen denied a podium.
The original results of the 24-lap abbreviated sprint race at Interlagos saw Verstappen finish third and team-mate Sergio Perez classified eighth.
But around two hours after the race finished, Verstappen was handed a five second time penalty after he was deemed to have committed a virtual safety car infringement.
The penalty was applied for an incident that happened on the final lap. After two laps under VSC conditions following an on-track breakdown for the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg, Verstappen was deemed to have exceeded his permitted delta time for VSC while trying to challenge the McLaren of Oscar Piastri.
The applied penalty means Verstappen finished fourth, dropping back behind the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc who had crossed the line within five seconds of Verstappen at the end of the race.
With Norris winning the sprint race, it means that he gains slightly on Verstappen in the standings for the Driver’s Championship with 4 full races and one sprint remaining in the 2024 season. Norris is 44 points clear of Verstappen ahead of the full Sao Paulo Grand Prix scheduled to take place tomorrow.
Perez meanwhile picked up one point after overtakes on Alex Albon and Liam Lawson, albeit at the second attempt in the case of the latter, helped him get up to eighth position. The position is the last points position in the sprint format, although Perez narrowly failed to get past Pierre Gasly in the Alpine in the position ahead.
It is as yet unknown what Verstappen or Perez’s starting positions will be for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix after wet weather lead to the postponement of qualifying as planned.
Qualifying is now scheduled to take place on Sunday morning, with a start time to be announced in due course, as well as any contingency measures if expected additional rain causes more issues.
Leah Williamson marked her 50th cap for England with a goal as England beat South Africa in a friendly.
The Milton Keynes-born football star scored England’s first goal in a 2-1 win at the Coventry Building Society Arena on Tuesday (29/10), with the strike being the Arsenal player’s first England goal since scoring a brace against Belgium in February 2023.
Williamson scored in the 12th minute of the game, as she received Jess Naz’s pass from a half-cleared corner and swept a first-time strike into the back of the net.
It would be a mixed night for Williamson, however, with a pass to Georgia Stanway inadvertently releasing Thembi Kgatlana and leading to the South African player scoring just after half-time.
England would however take the victory as they continue their preparations to defend their European championship crown at next year’s Euros in Switzerland.
The goal and victory comes amid a mixed time for Williamson, whose form has been under scrutiny after a slow start to the season for Arsenal and mistakes during a 4-3 defeat by Germany in England’s previous international a few days earlier.
The Lionesses have two more games to conclude their 2024 fixture programme, with England taking on the USA at Wembley on November 30th before a meeting with Switzerland at Sheffield United’s Bramall Lane stadium on December 3rd.
Luton Town picked up a point as they drew 1-1 with West Bromwich Albion at Kenilworth Road.
Josh Maja had put the visitors in front in first half stoppage time, before Tahith Chong grabbed an equaliser for Rob Edwards’ side during the second half.
The point saw West Brom draw their fifth straight league game, while for Luton, the result temporarily takes them out of the Championship relegation zone, though they would fall back in if Plymouth and Cardiff draw or win later today.
Back-to-back defeats including one from being 2-0 up against Coventry had dunked Luton into the second tier’s relegation zone, with the Hatters seeking an improved result against the Baggies.
The first half would however be a largely eventless affair, with very few opportunities created by the two sides in front of the TV cameras in the Friday night game.
The best chances would come Luton’s way, with Alex Palmer make a routine stop to deny Carlton Morris and the one-time Luton loanee would then make a further stop to deny Elijah Adebayo.
West Brom had struggled to create opportunities until stoppage time at the end of the first half, but their first real chance of the half would see a breakthrough go the Baggies’ way.
The visitors worked the ball out wide to Karlan Grant, whose cross was flicked by Maja beyond Thomas Kaminski and into the back of the net.
Luton made reshuffles at half-time and just after the break, and the changes would yield an equaliser just before the hour mark.
Chong was able to make the goal single-handedly, as the former Birmingham City player intercepted a scruffy pass by Alex Mowatt, charge forward and fire a long-range effort into the back of the net.
The game began to open up, with Luton having a penalty appeal turned down before Shandon Baptiste fired an effort wide, while the best chance saw Chong’s effort tipped wide by Palmer after a deflection.
Daiki Hashioka then hit the bar with a header from a corner, but after they missed chances, Luton nearly got hit by a sucker punch when Kaminski had to make a fine stop to keep out visiting sub Devante Cole.
But the game ran out of momentum in stoppage time, with a point shared by the two sides.
Luton now turn their attention to Wednesday night, when they welcome Cardiff to Kenilworth Road.
MK Dons have confirmed striker Matt Dennis has joined National League side Rochdale on loan until January.
The 22-year-old will join a Dale side currently sat 6th in the 5th tier table, with Dennis potentially available for Saturday’s FA Cup tie against Bromley.
Dennis moves to Spotland for an initial two month loan, which is possible with the National League loan window still open.
The striker had joined MK Dons in 2022 from Norwich City, but has slipped down the pecking order this season, making just two appearances for the Dons’ first team and none since the departure of Mike Williamson in September.
In a brief statement, MK Dons said, “Everyone at MK Dons wishes Matt the best of luck for his time at Spotland Stadium.”