City of Liverpool 1 Barnoldswick Town 1 (aet 3-2 on penalties)

BARNOLDSWICK Town suffered an agonising penalty shoot-out defeat against an AFC Liverpool side reduced to nine men in the Macron Cup final at Fleetwood.

With the scores locked at 2-2 in the decider Town’s Shaun Airey stepped up and hit the bar with his spot kick.

 It was a cruel way for Town’s season to end and as they dragged their weary bodies from the Highbury pitch AFC Liverpool celebrated a remarkable first season in the Hallmark Security League.

They have clinched promotion to the Premier Division, won The Reusch First Division Cup and now the Macron Cup.

City of Liverpool went ahead with an early penalty from Matty Williams who became the first player to be sent off in the 44th minute.

Zack Dale, Airey and Mark Threlfall all went close for Barnoldswick Town who struggled to make their numerical superiority count against a well organised side.

They had to wait until the 83rd minute to equalise when substitute Aaron Hollindrake turned in a corner.

There were no further goals and the match went into extra time.

Substitute Andrew Hill fired a drive straight at Stephen Longrigg and Liverpool’s Chris Dykes headed a good chance wide before Kevin McEllin received a second yellow card and was dismissed with five minutes to go.

Town couldn’t take advantage so the game went to penalties. Longrigg and Town’s Jordan Gidley both made two fine saves while Liverpool's Elliot Nevitt, Daley Woods and John Connolly netted the decisive penalties.

Threlfall and Hollindrake netted their spot kicks for Town but Andy Hill and Dale had theirs saved.