Leyton Orient 1 - 1 Hereford United
Hereford won 3-2 on penalties
Johnstone's Paint Trophy Southern Section Quarter-Final

HEREFORD goalkeeper Adam Bartlett was his side's hero as the Bulls defeated Orient on penalties to end the Londoners' Johnstone's Paint Trophy dreams.

Bartlett saved shoot-out efforts from Sean Thornton, Charlie Daniels and Luke Summerfield to deny the O's, who had only forced penalties with Jason Demetriou's last-gasp equaliser.

That it took Orient so long to find the net was down to Bartlett who produced a man-of-the-match performance in the face of near constant second half pressure.

Orient had to recover from a poor first half, which saw the Bulls take the lead through Leon Constantine, and the late leveller was their reward, but Hereford prevailed on penalties for the third successive round

Orient had the first sight of goal, with James Scowcroft stretching to head Daniels' cross wide of the mark in the fourth minute.

With 18 minutes on the clock Andros Townsend engineered a shooting opportunity for himself on the edge of the box and his low drive took a nick on its way behind for a corner.

Two minutes later Hereford's Mark Marshall made a mess of a good headed chance following a half-cleared set play and Orient were relieved to see his effort dribble a long way wide of the goal.

But the O's failed to heed the warning and they were behind on 25 minutes when Gavin McCallum got in behind their defence and cut the ball back for Constantine to produce a confident finish from eight yards.

Orient responded with a fierce shot from Jason Demetriou that flew over the Hereford crossbar, but the League One side were struggling to get a grip on the game and the sparse crowd were beginning to get frustrated.

The O's were lacking inspiration before the break, but they could have been level 35 seconds after the restart when Ryan Jarvis wriggled clear in the penalty box and shot for goal, only for Bulls stopper Adam Bartlett to block from close range.

Hereford defender Keith Lowe then had a heartstopping moment when, under pressure from Demetriou, he knocked Andrew Cave-Brown's cross towards his own goal. Bartlett got his teammate out of jail with a smart stop.

It was a much brighter start to the second period from the hosts and Jarvis' flicked header was almost converted by half time sub Sean Thornton as he steamed in at the far post on 51.

Jarvis wasted another chance three minutes later, prodding straight at Bartlett after running onto Scowcroft's flick-on, while on the hour Summerfield's shot from range took a deflection off Matt Done and wrongfooted Bartlett but landed just the wrong side of the post.

The opportunities kept on coming and Thornton's 61st minute corner was nodded back across goal by Scowcroft and Adrian Patulea looked set to score, but he didn't get hold of his volley and Bartlett was able to parry.

Scowcroft was next to go close, seeing his snap shot well saved by Bartlett after Luke Ashworth tussled for a long ball forward, but the breakthrough wouldn't come and Bartlett was the barrier again ten minutes from time, springing to his right to pluck Thornton's free kick out of the air..

Jarvis headed a Pires cross well wide of the mark as time ticked away and it looked as through Hereford would hold out.

But Orient finally drew level three minutes into stoppage time when Demetriou's low shot flew through a crowd of players and nestled in the visitors' goal.

Orient deserved to take the game to penalties and it was first blood to the hosts when Jamie Jones saved from Jamie Tolley.

But Thornton and Daniels then had their spot kicks saved by Bartlett to put Hereford in the box seat, and when McCallum scored his penalty, Summerfield needed to net to keep Orient in it. Bartlett dived to his right to repel the midfielder's effort and book Hereford's spot in the area semi-finals.

Leyton Orient: Jones; Cave-Brown, Chorley, Ashworth (Pires 84), Daniels; Baker (Patulea 59), Summerfield, Demetriou, Townsend (Thornton 46); Jarvis, Scowcroft
Subs: Purches, Butcher (GK)

Goal: Demetriou 90+3

Hereford: Bartlett; Lowe, Green, Blanchett, Rose; Marshall (Godsmark 69), Lunt, Sonko, Done; Constantine (Tolley 69), McCallum
Subs: Dennehy, King, Adamson (GK)

Goal: Constantine 25

Booked: Marshall

Penalties: Demetriou scored (1-0), Lowe scored (1-1), Chorley scored (2-1), Tolley missed (2-1), Thornton missed (2-1), Lunt scored (2-2), Daniels missed (2-2), McCallum scored (2-3), Summerfield missed (2-3)

Referee: Darren Deadman

Attendance: 1,282 (158 away)

Journalism students from the University of East London were in attendance at this game. Click here to read their match report.