Keeper Roux Hardcastle stars again as penalty shoot-out specialists Baffins Milton Rovers reach Wessex League Cup final

For the third time this year, the youngster made a crucial spot-kick save as Rovers booked a May 6 final date against Fareham Town or Petersfield Town.

Hardcastle kept out Andover Town’s fifth penalty from Malachi Johnson, allowing Tom Vincent to send Baffins through 5-4 at The Portway.

That was after David Gerrard had cancelled out Vincent’s early opener to send the tie to penalties.

Andover ended with nine men after Gary Thorne (for two yellows) and Josh Bertie (for a foul on Dan Aitken) had been dismissed.

Hardcastle had previously made saves to help Baffins beat Stoneham in the Wessex League Cup quarters and Lymington Town in the Hampshire Senior Cup.

And in those three shoot-outs, Baffins have only missed one of their 15 penalties.

Rovers have reached their third Wessex cup final - runners-up to Sholing in 2017, they beat Portland two years later - playing every round off Portsea Island.

All four ties - against Whitchurch, Wessex Premier leaders AFC Portchester, Stoneham and now Andover Town - were away from home.

‘It’s a great achievement,’ boss Danny Thompson told The News. ‘We haven’t been lucky, we’ve done it the hard way.

Victory capped a fine four days for Rovers, who broke into the Wessex Premier top six last weekend with a 2-0 win at Bournemouth Poppies.

Not a bad effort, bearing in mind Thompson oversaw a massive rebuilding effort last season with only Ed Sanders and Jason Parish staying.

‘It looked as if we scraped through on penalties,’ the manager added of last night’s win. ‘But how the hell we didn’t win by six or seven is beyond me.

‘We probably created more chances than in any other game I can think of. We did everything right up until the final execution.

‘I thought perhaps our luck had run out, but maybe it’s written in the stars that we’ll win the cup….’

Thompson was without nine first teamers at Andover, with Rob Evans suspended and Dec Seiden, Josh Rose and Tyler Giddings cup tied. In addition, Parish was one of five men out injured.

That meant a first start since January for Vincent, who was again playing in a mask following facial surgery after being injured against Bemerton.

Thompson isn’t fussed about which club Baffins meet in the final, having played for both of them.

He was at Fareham when Jon Gittens oversaw a run to the final of the Hampshire Senior Cup in 2003/04, and was a part of the Petersfield squad that won the Wessex League title in 2014/15.