Lichfield City’s Les James Cup hopes ended at the quarter-final stage as they threw away a half-time lead to go down 4-2 at home to Atherstone Town.
A 15 minute spell in the second period saw Paul Holt’s men ship three goals to effectively end their hopes of reaching the semi-final stage.
Things looked good for Lichfield after they started the brighter of the two sides, with Liam Holt lashing over from 15 yards out before Danny Worrall narrowly failed to get on the end of a Danny Thurstance cross.
The breakthrough was coming and it eventually arrived when Jacob Snape burst through before being denied by visiting keeper Robert Dolman. But thankfully for City, the rebound fell kindly to Thurstance who bundled the ball home from six yards out.
With a one-goal lead at the break Lichfield had hoped to build on their lead in the second period, but saw their hopes fade when defensive mistakes led to them surrendering their lead.
Mark Latham levelled the scores on 49 minutes before Atherstone turned the game on its head when Joe Boggild capitalised on hesitation from Jonathan Huckfield. The Lichfield defender’s day didn’t get any better as he was again caught in possession just before the hour mark to allow Ben Ashby to square for Ashley Wilkes to make it 3-1 to the visitors.
The 15 minutes of madness stunned the hosts back into action and Holt threw his side a lifeline with a sumptuous strike from 25 yards that found the top corner of the net.
Lichfield had chances to restore parity with Snape failing to get his shot away and Worrall firing straight at Dolman from five yards out, but Atherstone made sure of their place in the semi-finals when Gregg Webb tapped home in stoppage time.
