Blues exited a cup competion at the first hurdle for the third time this season and for the second time a penalty shoot out decided the outcome on Wednesday evening losing 5-4 after 90 minutes failed to produce goal. - this time it was the Velocity Trophy and Barking were the opposition. In truth it was a game that failed to ignite throughout, played out predominantly in midfield with very little goalmouth action and neither keeper having to make a save of significance . Blues line up showed a number of changes from the win at Hashtag on Saturday with Jack McQueen, Anointed Chukwu, Freddy Moncur, Callum Watts and Danny Gould starting with Mitch Hahn, Joe Paxman, David Knight and Aron Gordon dropping to the bench and Ryan Sammons unavailable.

The first Blues opportunity fell to Gould but his effort was straight into the arms of James Shaw. What followed was a cagey affair where neither side established territorial advantage, the play was confined to the middle of the park with some intricate passing and movement but little goal threat. Any chances that did arise came through sloppy passing by both sides. Chukwu was one recipient of a misplaced Barking pass, free and in on goal his weak effort was turned behind by Shaw. At the other end Barking seized on a loose ball but Darnell Gother - Braithwaite failed to hit the target.

The remainder of the half continued in the same manner, neat intricate passing from both sides interspersed with loose passes and efforts on goal lacking accuracy.

The start of the second period saw a rare moment of excitement when a Blues corner saw a frantic scramble in the Barking area which was eventually cleared.

After a slow start Blues enjoyed a period of control, again without producing an end result. Barking had their moments but again failed to trouble Danny Sambridge.

The best chance of the evening fell to Kai Brown when he raced clear but he was denied by a smart save and the chance was lost.

Both teams made a number of changes as the clock ticked down, but it had no real impact or further chances leading to the inevitable dreaded penalty shoot out. The first four kicks were all converted leaving Kai Brown to take the fifth for Blues and although he struck it well it also struck the upright leaving Barking to convert their last penalty and send them through to the next round.

Sammons , McQueen, Okonkwo, Clark (Akins 73),Joynes (Paxman 59,,Dark (Hahn 59),Brown, Moncur, Chukwu(Gordon 62), Watts( Knight 60), Gould