Glentoran thriller ends in penalty pain

Despite dominating throughout, the Glens fell behind in the 66th-minute as Lucas Macula tapped home from close range after Bobby Burns had earlier missed from the penalty spot.

They thought they'd been handed a lifeline when James Singleton scored deep into stoppage time – only for his header to be ruled out for offside.

But that wouldn't be the end as Burns popped up in the 103rd-minute to redeem his spot-kick miss and send the tie into extra-time at 3-3 on aggregate.

Penalties followed and while the tension grew with each passing kick, the quality remained with the first 27 finding the target until it was the unlucky Leon Boyd - who bravely stepped up twice - that had the decisive penalty saved by David Cassar.

Junior could only direct his early header at Cassar in the Gzira goal.

The Glens were handed a massive opportunity to turn their dominance into a deserved advantage when Rory Donnelly was brought down in the 17th minute following Daire O'Connor's cross which was diverted via a Junior touch, but just like in Malta last week, they couldn't make it count as Burns fired his penalty wide of the right-hand post.

In the 35th-minute, Donnelly latched onto Junior's knockdown and showed a burst of pace before getting his shot away, which Gzira managed to deflect behind for another corner.

That sparked another period of Glentoran pressure with a goalmouth scramble denying Luke McCullough.

Disaster struck for the Glens when Gzira took the lead against the run of play in the 66th minute as Thiaguinho made the most of the vast space he found himself in on the left-hand side, cutting in and striking against the post before Lucas Macula tapped in the rebound from close range past a helpless Aaron McCarey.

In what was a frantic end to normal time, Glentoran had the ball in the net through Jay Donnelly in the 86th minute but the linesman had already signalled that Rory Donnelly's cross had gone out of play.

Eight minutes were added on and just when all hope seemed lost following Singleton's goal being ruled out, Burns popped up to ensure extra-time.

Teenager Rhys Walsh almost put Glentoran in front in extra-time only for his shot to come back off the crossbar.

That would be the closest either side came to finding a winner and it was sent to penalties with each of the first 23 spot-kicks finding the net in a faultless exhibition before Jay Donnelly seemingly had his second saved, only for it to spin back off a celebrating Cassar into the goal to keep Glentoran's hopes alive.

Their dreams were dashed for good when Boyd's penalty was saved.

GLENTORAN: McCarey, McCullough, Wilson, Burns, Marshall, R.Donnelly (Jenkins, 111), O'Connor (Boyd, 97), Singleton, Sule, McGinn (J.Donnelly, 69), Junior (Walsh, 79).

Subs (not used): Webber, Kane, Kelly, Russell, Wightman, Locke, Smyth.