Blues 2 Needham Market Reserves 3

The Reserves crashed out of the Suffolk Senior Cup after a lack lustre display. The win was well deserved by the visitors Needham Market Reserves. The Blues second string started the game kicking up the hill with the wind in their faces and came into this fixture having beaten their opponents 2-0 only three days earlier so the set up was the same. Within four minutes of the start the visitors opened the scoring. A through ball inside Jerome Haynes split the defence and a long range effort bounced over the outstretched Ben Vincent's right hand and into the corner. The next ten minutes or so the Blues had a couple of half chances from Ryan Noy and Danny Block which stung the visitors keepers hands but it was Needham who doubled their lead on 13 minutes. A quick free kick caught the Blues napping and a cross from the right was met in the centre for an easy side foot finish. The Blues pulled one back on 29 minutes when a loose ball was picked up in the middle by Michael Velzian who dinked the ball over the defence to Danny Block who calmly lifted the ball over the keeper who went down too early.

On 50 minutes the Blues made their first change when Nuno Nogueira replaced Michael Velzian and the change had instant success as Nuno Nogueira won the ball in the final third, held off the challenge, drifted past two players and then laid the ball into Ryan Noy whose first time ball set up Lewis Bell to side foot past the keeper. With their tails up the Blues went searching for the winner but spurned two golden chances, the first coming from a Ryan Noy free kick that was flicked on by Kieron Nichols to Lewis Bell whose left foot drive scraped the far post. The next chance Kieron Nichols broke free but chose to shoot when both Danny Block and Virgilio Leitao were in acres of space for an easy tap in. On 80 minutes the Blues made an en forced change when the injured Kieron Nichols was replaced by John Saunders. With the game seemingly heading for extra time the visitors snatched the win with a free kick that penetrated the wall and found the net.

FT – Blues 2 Needham Market Reserves 3

Congratulations to our visitors on a deserved victory after they had learnt from the defeat three days earlier and exploited our defensive formation. Our inability to adapt or change formation gave the visitors the impetus for victory.

Man of the Match – Ryan Noy