It’s not often that the early stages of domestic cup competitions provide historic moments, but that’s exactly what happened on Tuesday night when Preston North End and Fulham met in the League Cup.
Normal time and extra-time couldn’t separate the Championship side and their Premier League counterparts.
Ryan Ledson opened the scoring for the hosts on 35 minutes, before Fulham’s Reiss Nelson pegged them back just after the hour.
Preston and Fulham’s historic League Cup shoot-out
With a penalty shoot-out the end result, no one could’ve foreseen what was going to happen next.
After five penalties each, not one player from either side had missed the target.
Indeed, the first eight penalties were perfect, before a miss from Fulham’s Jorge Cuenca handed the advantage to the hosts.
Unfortunately for Preston, the pressure was too much for Kaine Kesler-Hayden and the shoot-out continued.
Another seven successful spot-kicks from either side included the first five players having to take a second penalty each.
When Timothy Castagne stepped up for Fulham, it was the Cottager’s 15th penalty of the night.
His miss allowed Ledson to step up and effectively score his third goal of the night to see the Championship side through to the next round.
As the official EFL website noted, it was the longest penalty shoot-out in the competition’s illustrious 64-year history.
Top photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images