An Cup replay this week saw a new FA Cup record set for the number of kicks in a penalty shootout.

Tunbridge Wells 2-2 Littlehampton Town aet  
Tunbridge Wells won 16-15 on kicks from the penalty mark

The FA Cup Preliminary Round Replay
Wednesday, 31 August 2005
Culverden Stadium

An FA Cup replay, watched by just 122 fans at Culverden Stadium, saw a new FA Cup record established for the number of kicks in a penalty shootout.

Kent League Tunbridge Wells won the shoot-out 16-15 after 40 kicks. There were two penalties in normal time too as the two sides battled to a 2-2 draw after extra time.

The match lasted for 3 hours 10 minutes and finished at 10.55pm.

Tunbridge Wells now travel to Met Police in the First Round Qualifying on 10 September.

Tunbridge Wells FC dates from 1967 and one of their predecessors, Tunbridge Wells Rangers, had pre-war matches against Norwich City, Brentford and Brighton & Hove Albion in The Cup.

The previous highest recorded FA Cup shootout went to a "mere" 24 kicks, with Macclesfield Town beating Forest Green Rovers 11-10 in a First Round Proper replay at Forest Green after a 1-1 draw on 28 November 2001. This is the record that appears in football annuals.

A little more than four years earlier, in September 1997, in a First Round Qualifying replay at Littlehampton, Marlow beat Littlehampton Town  (yes, them again) 11-10 on penalties after a 2-2 draw. That one only went to 22 kicks!

The FA decided in 1991 that FA Cup ties would be decided by penalties if, after one replay, the teams were level at the end of extra time. This development ended the multiple replay system that had been a feature of The FA Cup since its inception.