Eastbourne Borough Under 18s suffered penalty shoot-out heartache on Tuesday night when they lost in the Final of the Sussex FA Dennis Probee Youth Cup.

Hassocks scored all five spot-kicks to prevail, with the Sports’ one miss proving crucial after the game finished level after 90 minutes.

The Sports took the lead late in the first half at Culver Road through Sam Sharma, and looked comfortable before a mix-up inside the last ten minutes saw Harry Hammond draw Hassocks level.

And the Mid-Sussex side went on to win 5-3 on penalties as the Sports missed out on silverware by the narrowest of margins.

Toby Whiteside had to be alert early on to deny Hassocks from close range, but after that neither side really got a grip on an evenly contested Final.

Jimmy Holman had a looping header comfortably saved as he met a corner from the left, and just when it looked like the teams would go into the break on level terms, the Sports struck. 

A long ball over the top was latched onto by Sharma, who beat the advancing keeper to the ball before lifting it over him and into the unguarded net from outside the area.

Borough sat back in the second half, although Zak Tarrant posed a threat on the counter attack. However, despite their possession, Hassocks failed to register a shot on target – until the 80th minute.

A shot came in from the edge of the area and Hammond ran across Whiteside to cause the keeper to fumble the ball and the Hassocks forward bundled home.

And so to penalties, and after Jack May and Theo Coleman-Standen converted their spot-kicks, Holman had his saved by George Lythgoe, with Hassocks making no mistake to go on and win the cup.

Mark Standen’s side conclude their campaign on Monday night, when they travel to face Whitehawk. Kick off is 7.45pm in East Brighton.