CHARLIE Hardcastle scored the decisive penalty as Launceston just got the better of fellow Premier Division high-flyers Saltash United at Pennygillam.

The game was slow to get going and almost the first meaningful action saw the Clarets take the lead on the half-hour.

Ruben Kane played a measured pass through to Sam Davey who took the ball on and slotted past Ryan Rickard for the third time in as many weeks.

Saltash came flying out after the break and were level within five minutes as Sam Farrant finished neatly.

Liam Prynn wriggled round the back of the defence, squeezed past the keeper but couldn’t quite beat the defender on the line before, in the 72nd minute, Launceston were indebted to keeper Cory Harvey for a superb flying save to deny Dave Trott.

The game had opened right up and was in the balance by this stage, but former Claret Lewis Young struck in the 74th minute, finishing neatly with his left foot to make it 2-1.

The tie moved into the last few minutes with the Clarets throwing everything at their visitors in a desperate bid to retain interest in the competition.

And in the 88th minute, against the odds, they did just that.

A mazy dribble from the outstanding Callum Watson took him deep into the penalty area with defenders afraid to land a challenge. Watson looked up and played the ball across for Chris Head to joyfully crash the ball home and take the game into extra-time.

The additional half-hour provided little in the way of incident and so it went to penalties in which Kane, Head, Chris Wright and, decisively, Charlie Hardcastle, all kept their nerve to score and seal a 4-2 shoot-out success.