RADCLIFFE suffered their first defeat of the season, losing a dramatic penalty shootout at Lancaster City in the Integro League Cup after an entertaining 2-2 draw.

Though they had seen a penalty saved in the dying moments of normal time, Lancaster held their nerve in the shootout while Scott Metcalfe and Tunde Owolabi saw their spot-kicks saved to see the hosts win 4-3 and progress to the next round.

Jimmy Daniels had put Boro ahead midway through the first half, latching onto a through ball before finding the corner of the goal with a neat finish

But his goal was cancelled out by Ryan Winder shortly before the break. Lancaster had offered very little going forward throughout the first half but as the break neared they began to apply some pressure and got the equaliser.

Lewis Fensome played a brilliant ball over the top of the Boro defence which was brought down by Winder which beat the defenders in the process and he rolled it past Ollie Martin.

Having had chances missed by Payne and Raul Correia, and Kingsley Williams seeing his tame effort saved by Aiden Stone, Boro had dominated and could have been further ahead before Winder’s strike sent them in level at 1-1.

They could, however, also have fallen behind a minute before half time, Martin recovering to save after City’s attackers had latched onto his loose pass.

Radcliffe began the second half as they had the first, with Payne forcing an excellent save from Stone and Lewis Lacy crashing a shot against the bar when the resulting corner caused Lancaster’s defence a host of problems.

But five minutes later the home side took the lead as Bailey’s mazy run resulted in him smartly finishing into the bottom corner.

With that goal Lancaster grew in confidence and Martin kept his side in the tie, tipping Winder’s goal-bound shot over the bar.

Matty Carr had two golden opportunities to put Boro level but his two headers went just wide of the Lancaster goal.

In an end-to-end game Martin was called upon again on 78 minutes and produced another two great saves as City looked to kill off the game.

With just five minutes remaining Radcliffe finally found their breakthrough, with Grogan in just the right place at the right time to fire home the equaliser.

In stoppage time Lancaster were given a golden chance to win it with the award of a soft penalty.

City substitute Matty Blinkhorn stepped up but his under-hit effort was saved by Martin to keep Boro’s hopes alive and send the tie straight to a shootout.

First up for Lancaster, Blinkhorn made up for his miss in normal time by slotting home, Boro’s Ben Wharton making it 1-1.

After Winder then scored for Lancaster, Metcalfe saw his effort smartly saved by Stone.

Bailey extended the hosts’ lead but Elliot Rokka scored to keep his side in touch.

Lancaster’s Ryan McLean and Boro captain Williams scored to take it to 4-3 and Martin pulled off his second penalty save of the night, thwarting Simon Wills.

But, having been handed the chance to send it to sudden death, Owolabi was denied by a fine save by Stone.

Radcliffe dropped points in the Evo-Stik West for the first time this season at the weekend but remain unbeaten after a 1-1 draw at Newcastle Town.

Payne had put Boro ahead early in the first half but Rod Orlando-Young grabbed a point for Newcastle 15 minutes from time.