Clevedon Town v Witney Town 

Clevedon Town v Witney Town became part of nonleague football history when their cup tie was settled by penalty kicks an hour after the teams had left the pitch. 

1996/97 wasn’t an especially auspicious or successful season for either Witney Town or Clevedon Town but the two clubs were destined to carve themselves a little notch in football folklore when they were drawn to face each other in a Southern League Dr Martens Cup tie.   

The competition was then played over two legs with the first game played at Witney.  In a typical hard-fought cup-tie the home side took the lead through an Adams goal in the 25^th minute.   

Clevedon equalised through Jackson from the penalty spot and the match ended 1-1.  With the away goals ruling applying in the League Cup the advantage was with Clevedon as they hosted the second leg at Davis Lane.  

Witney had to sore to avoid going out of the cup and they did so, again through Adams, to take a 70^th minute lead.  Winstone notched the equaliser for Clevedon and the match went into extra-time with the aggregate score tied at 2-2,  Each side scored again in extra time to make it 2-2 on the night and 3-3 on aggregate.   

But Witney had scored two away goals compared to Clevedon’s one so were through to the next round on the away goals rule.  Or at least that was what everyone; referee, supporters, players and club officials thought. 

With the fans either on their way home or enjoying a beer in the clubhouse and the players getting changed the referee, Martin Perry, prompted by a nagging doubt, decided to check the competition rules again and discovered that the away goals rule only applied at the end of 90 minutes.   

The extra-time goals should have been disregarded with a penalty shoot-out to decide the winner.  The referee was quoted as saying, “There was a lot of confusion after the game and the secretaries of both clubs seemed unaware of the rules.”  There was even more confusion when the referee decided, at 10.30pm, that he had no choice but to comply with the rules and belatedly ordered penalty kicks to be taken. 

While the referee had deliberated both teams had showered and changed with the Witney players about to board their coach home only to be told that they had to go back onto the pitch.   

Both teams and officials changed back into their dirty kits and wandered back on to the pitch watched by a curious gaggle of supporters from the clubhouse bar.   

No doubt Mr Perry was praying that Witney would win the shoot-out and happily for the ref they did by a 4-2 margin.  So Witney were once again declared the winners of the tie and the players trooped back to the dressing room – some three and a half hours since the match had first kicked off. 

Despite their victory being confirmed Witney were just as unhappy as Clevedon with the nights events with chairman Brian Constable quoted as saying, “Mr Perry should not be allowed to referee again.  This kind of thing only happens in village football not in a semi-professional league.”   

The criticism seems harsh especially when each clubs secretary, a breed so often imbued with (apparently) limitless technical knowledge, had no idea that penalty kicks should have been taken.