Salford City clinched their first ever piece of silverware as a Football League club, as they defeated Portsmouth 4-2 on penalties in the EFL Trophy final at Wembley Stadium.
League One Pompey, who were in pursuit of a second successive final victory in the competition, began nervously in their title defence and the Ammies threatened an early opener when James Wilson tested Craig MacGillivray inside seven minutes.
Richie Wellens’ side continued in the ascendency as Brandon Thomas-Asante forced another intervention from MacGillivray, before the Portsmouth number one again denied Wilson from close range after impressive build-up play.
Jordan Turnbull thought he had handed the League Two outfit a deserved opener, but his low effort on the swivel through a crowded penalty area was impressively stopped by MacGillivray once more.
An almost perfect first-half display for Salford, where Portsmouth failed to have a single effort at goal, was nearly capped off three minutes before the interval when a low Wilson strike drifted agonisingly wide of the target and beyond a despairing Ash Hunter.
An understandably displeased Kenny Jackett – hoping to lift his third EFL Trophy – made a triple substitution at half time and Ronan Curtis nearly made an immediate impact but Salford stopper Vaclav Hladky did well to thwart the attacker.
Pompey, who had won 21 out of 25 EFL Trophy ties under Jackett prior to the tie, again relied on the heroics of MacGillivray to save their blushes when the Scotsman miraculously pawed clear Ash Eastham’s powerful header from point-blank range.
As the tie edged towards the final whistle, Jackett’s third tier promotion hopefuls sparked into life and twice went close to a late winner, but Curtis miscued an audacious effort while Lee Brown’s cultured volley drifted marginally wide.
In extra time, Ryan Williams spurned a glorious chance from close range after he benefited from a Touray mistake and John Marquis skewed a strike harmlessly wide of the target from a promising position.
Substitute Mani Dieseruvwe struck the woodwork from an inventive volleyed strike on the spin, whilst Jordan Turnbull heroically thwarted Curtis as he raced down on goal with a last-ditch sliding challenge as neither side could be separated.
A shootout was required to settle the competition and Salford – who defeated Newport County by the same method in the semi-finals in February 2020 – emerged victorious after Hladky saved Curtis’ spot-kick and Jason Lowe dispatched the deciding penalty.
