Cardea started with Anton Fountain in goal behind a back three of Stuart Yaxley, Gav Earl and Michael Williams with Adam Simons and Ryan Moore playing as wingbacks.

The middle three were Daryl Patrick, Shane Cooke and Aaron Yeoman with Tom Broughton and Luke Penman up front.

Cardea made a storming start to the match and were 2-0 up in fifteen minutes.

The first goal came from a free kick after Penman was fouled. Cooke took the kick and fired it past the keeper for the opener.

Penman scored the second after being played through by a Yeoman pass.

Patrick had to come off just after the goal with a knock with Daniel Robinson coming on.

Premiair pulled a goal back when Rian Inns lobbed keeper Fountain from an angle to make it 2-1.

The score stayed the same until half time, despite some good efforts by Penman being saved. Fountain was also kept busy, making multiple saves to preserve the Cardea lead.

With 15 minutes to go the referee adjudged Earl handled the ball in the box and Ryan Alban scored the spotkick.

Michael Creek came into the action as Cardea looked for a winning goal.

The scores remained level meaning the game went into extra time.

Extra time went by with a few half chances being created by both teams but the wind was strong and hampered both sets of players.

No deciding goal could be scored and the game went to penalties.

Earl stepped up first for Cardea but blazed his penalty over the bar. Premair scored their penalty to take the lead but Penman equalised with his pen.

Premair again scored their spotkick and Yeoman responded with his penalty. Premair scored their next to make the score 3-2 after 6 penalties.

Cooke took the next for Cardea but his kick hit the post and Premair had the chance to win the shootout and took the chance to win 4-2 on penalties and send Cardea out of the cup.

After the game manager Craig Robinson said: "Disappointing morning of football, we didn't use the wind to our advantage today. We looked really good and 2-0 but then something just changed and we never really got a grip on the game after that.

"Credit to Premier they made us defend more then I liked at times. Never nice to lose a semi final. We now need to make sure we're not hurting like this in 2 weeks time and get those 4 points we need to win the league. My MOTM was penman, took his goal well, and stretched their back line at every opportunity."

As Robinson says Cardea need 4 points from 2 games to win Division 2 and that begins next Sunday with a tough trip to Langtoft to play a Walnut Tree side who beat Fenland Police 3-1 today.