Corinthian-Casuals are through to the Third Round of the Velocity Trophy after defeating Margate via a penalty shoot-out on Tuesday night.

With the scores level at 2-2 after 90 minutes, Casuals dispatched all five of their spot kicks to put out their higher league opponents winning 5-3 on penalties.

Casuals had fallen behind in the first ten minutes but soon levelled through Jordan Clarke’s well placed curling shot. Margate regained control of the tie in the second half and looked to have won it when Matt Bodkin scored in the 81st minute.

But an injury time header from defender Jack Strange ensured the tie went to penalties, where Casuals put to bed their agonising playoff-final shoot-out loss to Dorking back in April.

“I thought we were the better side for most of the game but we didn’t have enough shots on target”, said Manager James Bracken after the final whistle.

“If we had, with their stand-in keeper, we’d have obviously scored more. I have the same gripe with set pieces too, where we needed to stick more on him. That’s probably the main reason why we went to penalties.

“However, it gave us the opportunity to show spirit. Being 2-1 down away from home with ten minutes remaining gave us the chance to show our resolve. From there, we went on and scored five out of five penalties.

“I’m sure that a penalty shootout will happen again this season – whether it’s in the Cup or playoffs. Now we can go into that with this experience in mind. If those five boys are on the pitch, they should be confident stepping up again and the others can also be confident knowing we’re a side that can win from the penalty spot.

“You come into these games knowing both sides will make a few changes, which we both did. Margate still had a good side. We didn’t make wholesale changes. We gave one or two a game from the bench and a few others a chance to get into the squad who haven’t been involved for a few weeks.

“But when you travel this far on a Tuesday night, I want to be fair to not only the players, giving them a real chance to win the game, but to be fair to our supporters. We’ve had a good turnout again tonight and they’ve sung and chanted all evening. We didn’t want to come along, put out a disjointed side, lose 3-0 and waste an evening. Hopefully they enjoyed it and had a good night.

Asked about his preferences for the draw in the next round, Bracken commented, “I don’t want Bury, Leiston, Lowestoft… anyone miles away. We’ll give them a swerve. It’d be nice if this competition was local like they claimed it was supposed to be. Coming here to Margate on a Tuesday night is in no way shape or form, local.

“One of the local sides would be my preference just for the team’s sake, the supporter’s sake and my sake in terms of travelling, getting time off work, etc. Other than that, I have no real preference. I want games that we can win and we can beat anybody. Let’s see how far we can go.”

Casuals are in more Cup action this weekend as they face Hertford Town in the FA Trophy at King George’s Arena, Tolworth on Saturday.