By rob
September 11 2002

Billy Turley was the hero for Rushden and diamonds, as they knocked first division Millwall out of the Worthington cup at Nene park, Tuesday night, on penalties The Rushden goalkeeper saved substitute Charlie Hearn’s first penalty for Millwall, then drove home a spot kick himself, before MOM, Paul Underwood sealed the victory to see the, and Northamptonshire side through to the 2nd round.

The 3rd division outfit looked superb on the night, and more than matched their 1st division counterparts, in fact they could have won the game in normal time but for the woodwork, keeping Duane Darby’s effort from hitting the back of the net.

Darby, Partridge, and Mills all went close in the first half, then Wardley effort just after the break was denied by the Millwall keeper, Tony Warner. Warner also made saves from Darby, Hall and partridge in the 2nd half, but when he was finally beaten in the 63rd minute,when the ball was kept out by the post.

Millwall had their chance too, and Turley was kept busy toward the end of normal time as he kept out 3 shots from Paul Ifill. Christophe Kinet and Ben May both missed the target.

In extra time Turley made a heroic save from Matt Lawrence’s 35 yard drive at goal, and he also blocked 2 headers from veteran, Steve Claridge. Moments before the end of extra time Darby’s angled drive flashed across the goal, and somehow the danger was cleared, taking the game to penalties.

It became a surprise that this game ended goalless as Rushden pressed from the start, and 2 hours of delightful football couldn’t separate the sides, so it had to go to penalties, a tense time for players, managers, and fans alike.

Hero Billy kept his cool as the penalties were taken in front of the behaved Millwall fans, and did enough to make a crucial save, and with the diamonds players, including Billy, all scoring from the spot, meant that it will be the diamonds that go into Saturdays 2nd round draw.

PENALTY SHOOT OUT STATS
1. GRAY 1-0
2. HEARN (saved) 1-0
3. HALL 2-0
4. IFILL 2-1
5. WARDLEY 3-1
6. LIVERMORE 3-2
7. TURLEY 4-2
8. ROBERTS 4-3
9. UNDERWOOD 5-3