SHEPTON Beauchamp added the Coronation Cup to the Chard Hospital Cup they won earlier in the season when they beat Combe St Nicholas reserves 6-3 after extra time on Saturday.

Although Shepton appeared to be getting on top during the early exchanges, they failed to break down a resolute Combe defence and almost paid the price as Stuart Bicknell and Steve Every put efforts narrowly wide of the upright.

Mid-way through the first half Combe stunned the Shepton supporters when Darren Spurdle fired home from 12 yards.

And highly fancied Shepton must have been thinking it wasn’t going to be their day when Every increased the advantage with a well-struck shot just before the break.

After the interval both sides did their best to entertain the crowd but the heavy pitch was having an effect on the players and scoring opportunities were becoming a rare occurrence.

However, with ten minutes remaining Shepton made a breakthrough. Dan Peach was brought down inside the area and got to his feet to smash the spot kick past Chris Scott to reduce the arrears.

This goal spurred Shepton on as they went in search of an equaliser and the pressure finally paid off five minutes later when Kris Hastings received the ball from Dan Smith and deftly placed it past the wrong footed keeper.

Both teams had chances to claim victory in the time remaining, but with no further score, the 90 minutes ended with honours even and the outcome was set to be decided in extra-time.

With five minutes of the added time played, Shepton took the lead for the first time as Aaron Sweet floated over a corner and Dougie Whitfield calmly placed the ball into the net.

However, the lead was short-lived, as two minutes later Bicknell made it 3-3.

Shepton regained the lead early in the second period and it was once again the Sweet-Whitfield combination that brought them the goal when Sweet’s free kick was diverted past Scott by Whitfield.

And minutes later the cup was as good as in Shepton’s trophy cabinet as Sweet bent a superb 25-yard free-kick around the defensive wall and into the net.

The scoring was completed with less than three minutes left on the clock when Jon Spendlow was the marksman.

Shepton manager Anthony Smith said: “It was great to get the victory, but we really struggled at times and it wasn’t until we changed our formation that we looked threatening”.

Shepton go into the new year with their eye on a possible clean sweep.

They are still in the race for the Premier Division title and are looking forward to a quarter-final Challenge Cup tie in February.