ASCOT United lost their first round Floodlit Cup tie 4-2 on penalties to Hellenic Division One West side Hook Norton.

The scores were level at 3-3 after extra time with Yellamen goals coming from Sam Wadieh, Jon Bennett and Ben Knight.

Jack Smilie and Joe Gritt then missed their spot-kicks for the Hellenic Premier side while Hook converted all of their attempts to progress.

The loss was a disappointing follow up to Ascot's impressive 3-1 win over previously unbeaten Witney Town in the league on Friday.

The match was moved from Saturday to Friday night, due to the unavailability of Witney's pitch, and came just three days after Ascot's FA Cup loss to Bishop's Cleeve. And it turned out to be a Friday night thriller as three penalties were awarded and Witney keeper Jamie Zoldan was sent off.

Manager Jeff Lamb - who played the full 90 minutes due to depleted numbers - said: "It was a very good win for us on Friday. We really needed it after the disappointment of the FA cup in midweek and we got it.

"Witney are a good side who try and play the right way and you have to be very disciplined against them.

"Our tactics worked on Friday so Paul and I were happy that the team played to instructions."

He added: "We also had a number of first team players unavailable due to holidays, work and injuries, which made the job that little bit harder but credit to the boys that played, there were some outstanding individual performances on show."

There were chances for both sides in an entertaining opening period but the key moment of the game came on 38 minutes when Witney keeper Zoldan raced out to clear a long ball but was adjudged to have brought down Jon Bennett for a penalty and received his marching orders.

Alan Foster was brought on as a substitute goalkeeper but he could not stop the penalty from Ian Brooks.

Jermaine Ferreira's goal was disallowed for offside, meaning the Yellamen kept their lead in tact for half-time.

Bennett made it 2-0 shortly after the hour mark with a curling effort into the right hand corner.

But Witney did not allow Ascot to settle and they were rewarded with a penalty, which was converted by James Dobson to make it 2-1 and nervous for the last 25 minutes.

However, with about 10 minutes left, a mistake in the Witney defence led to the third penalty of the night when Josias Carbon handled in the area.

Knight stepped up to the spot sending the keeper the wrong way to make it 3-1 and give the Yellamen all three points.

It was an excellent result against one of the title contenders and manager Lamb is pleased with the team's progress so far.

"The attitude from the guys has been really impressive in recent weeks and I think a lot of the hard work they have put in has paid off," he said. "We now need to continue the form shown in recent weeks."

Ascot are in cup action again this Saturday as they go to Chinnor in the second qualifying round of the FA Vase (3pm ko).