THERE was high drama at Windsor Park on Tuesday night when Linfield were beaten 10-9 on penalties to Crusaders.
The game ended 1-1 at full time and the match went to 30 minutes of extra time before a nail-biting penalty shoot out.
And at 9-9 it fell to Crusaders captain Colin Coates to stop up and score from the penalty spot to put the Seaview men through to the semi-finals.
In other games, Cliftonville beat Bangor 4-0 at Solitutde, with Joe ‘The Goal’ Gormley get two goals.
Portadown crashed out after getting thumped 4-0 by Ballymena at the Showgrounds.
Even before the final whistle was blown Ports manager Ronnie McFall was already working down the tunnel.
At Mourneview, Glenavon found themselves 3-0 down to Ards.
However, in the second half, Gary Hamilton’s clawed back to 3-3, pushing the game into extra time and also penalties.
But they couldn’t maintain the momentum and Ards ran out 4-3 winners on penalties.
BALLYMENA UTD 4 (Cushley 7, Surgenor 58, Thompson 86, Teggart pen 90) v PORTADOWN 0
CLIFTONVILLE 4 (Melly og 7, Boyce 36, Gormley 72 & 86) v BANGOR 0
GLENAVON 3 (Marshall 57 & 86, Patton 77) AET v ARDS 3 (Faulkner 19 & 22, Roy 25, Gibson s/o 79)
Ards win 5-4 on penalties
LINFIELD 1 (McCaul pen 89) AET v CRUSADERS 1 (Caddell 62, Adamson s/o 88)
Crusaders win 10-9 on penalties