top of page

BIG WIN IN THE SUFFOLK PREMIER CUP


Needham Market advanced to the quarter-finals of the Endeavour Automotive Suffolk Premier Cup after a 5-0 victory over Brantham Athletic.


After a bright start from the Imps, Needham dominated the majority of possession, as Ben Hunter lashed a thunderous 20-yard 5th minute strike from the left-hand edge of the box just wide of the near post.


Cowling was threaded down the left-hand side, by a neat reverse pass, in acres of space two minutes later but saw his dangerous low squared ball turned behind for a corner.


Dan Morphew then met a brilliant left wing cross in acres of space to chest it down and volley ferociously at the near post on 9 minutes, albeit his effort was deflected behind but for adamant handball appeals to be dismissed.


Keiran Morphew's header from the corner was held by the keeper, before Ryan Miles was fed free on the edge of the box 1v1 whose exquisite strike curling towards the top left-hand corner was acrobatically beaten away.


McGrath broke down the right-hand side whose excellent hold up play saw his effort deflected narrowly over, as Needham remained dominant.


The Marketmen broke the deadlock on 14 minutes, great hold up play once more from Jamie McGrath who fed Myles Cowling free on the right wing, the attacking midfielder's outrageous cross picked out Tommy Smith storming in at the far post to brilliantly head into the right-hand corner from a yard out.




Kyle Hammond swung a dangerous free-kick just wide of the top right-hand corner shortly after, followed by Dion Henry intercepting a long through-ball towards Ryan Miles in the 19th minute.




Eddie Barker arrived onto a great pass into the area in the 21st minute, albeit his low first time strike was blocked.




Henry again intercepted a great ball over the top moments later, this time in search of Jamie McGrath, while Ollie Saunders was slotted onto the left-hand side only to see his dangerous low ball across deflected wide for a corner on 23 minutes.




Needham continued to create great chances, Hammond wrapped a brilliant 30-yard free-kick to Keiran Morphew a yard out at the far post, the captain's dangerous headed cutback however was headed dangerously wide of the top left-hand corner by a Brantham defender on 25 minutes.




The resulting corner agonisingly evaded a Red shirt at point blank range, before Brantham missed a golden opportunity on 32 minutes.




A dangerous right wing cross was headed back across goal at the far post only for the header to be glanced just past the post at point blank range.




Needham doubled their lead on 37 minutes, a fantastic low left wing cross was controlled well then stabbed home by Ryan Miles into the gaping net.




At the other end however, Brantham were awarded a penalty on the 43rd minute, but Chris Regis' spot-kick a minute later was expertly held by James Bradbrook low to his left.




Needham remained on the front foot after the break, Myles Cowling broke down the left wing on on 49 minutes only to wrap his low shot-cross just wide of the far post, also just evading Hunter.




Hammond raced onto the right-hand side two minutes later, only for his intelligent low ball into the six yard box to be beaten away by the diving keeper.




Brantham saw a dinked finish ruled out for offside on 52 minutes, prior to Hammond's surging run onto the right-hand side on 54 minutes only for his low delivery to just beat two red shirts.




Seth Chambers and Jackson Nsofor replaced Ben Hunter and Myles Cowling in a double change on the hour mark, before Smith's 62nd minute first time left wing cross was hit straight at the keeper on his line.




Substitute Nsofor (64') controlled a superb cross-field ball with outstanding control only to see his low cross turned behind for a corner, which Dan Morphew met at the far post but looped a bullet header just over the top right-hand corner.




Chambers (67') was deemed just offside as he ran through one-on-one only to see his low shot denied by the keeper, ahead of Needham adding a well taken third on 69 minutes.




Chambers was again threaded clear on goal before neatly nutmegging the goalkeeper at close range to find the bottom far corner.




Keiran Morphew was replaced by Luke Ingram (70'), before Chambers netted his second of the night two minutes later.




Chambers met a intelligent ball over the top on the right-hand side to loop a exquisite side-footed strike over the keeper into the far corner.




Miles saw a close range effort saved before Nsofor's rebound effort was cleared off the line.




Both McGrath and Chambers both saw strikes denied at point blank range on 75 minutes, though the former added a fifth on 80 minutes.




Scintillating play saw Nsofor race down the right wing before Jamie McGrath met his low ball round the defence to turn it cleverly into the top right-hand corner.




Jackson Nsofor saw an 83rd minute thunderous strike blocked behind well by the keeper low at his near post, from which McGrath looped his header over.




Ingram's brilliant right wing cross was turned agonisingly just over by Nsofor from six yard box on 85 minutes as Needham got back to winning ways in style.


Patrick Brothers said, "always good to win in the Cup. It's something we need to put right from last year. Obviously, not getting to the final last year. So, yeah, any win in the Cup is good, especially to score five goals.


"I think the game started pretty even. Like any team coming here, they're always going to start really bright and really energetic. Did well just to calm that down. Got on the ball. Pitch was brilliant for us. Bit wet. Got the ball moving, and I think as soon as we scored the first one, we obviously controlled the game from then onwards. Yeah, and to go into the break with a fairly comfortable lead must be pleasing. Any lead in the Cup at half-time is a great foundation. I think we moved the ball well, and naturally, the more you keep the ball, the more you've got the other team moving.


"You then put yourself in great stead for the second half, where, no disrespect, they looked a bit tired. We put on some lively subs, and, yeah, second half, we kind of run riot, really."


On whether he'd describe as a clinical performance, Brothers said, "obviously we try and play football in the right manner. We try and play good, attractive, attacking football. But we said at the start of the game, we need to win. We need to score goals. We need to be dangerous in front of goal, we scored five, so we can't complain. Could have had a few more, but yeah, five goals. No complaints from the management, really."


Brothers was also pleased with the impact from the substitutes, heavily involved in all three seconds half goals, "subs are always going to be frustrated not to play, not to start games of football. League, Cup, FA Cup, if you're on the bench, when you do get your chance to come on you've got to work hard and play as well as you can for whether it's 10, 20 or 30 minutes, and the subs did that today. I thought everyone who came on had an impact. I think it helped with one or two of the goals. So, yeah, credit to them.


When asked if that was the desired response to a couple of Cup matches without victory he replied, "yeah, I think so. Obviously, it's always disappointing not to get through into the other FA Cups (and Trophy), but we did. We thought we played well. We were just missing that sort of clinical touch when we had the odd chance against Weston and the odd chance against Chatham. We said before the game, we just need to be clinical, whether it's a confidence thing, whether it's a luck thing or just a combination of everything. Tonight was probably a perfect game to play in regards to that. No disrespect to Brantham. We probably odds on to win, to score five. Just adds a little bit of momentum going into Saturday's fixture."


Brothers however is expecting a tough game on Saturday, at home to Stourbridge.


"Yeah, I think any home fixture we fancy ourselves, but again, any fixture in this league is always going to be tough. This game with training Thursday is good prep. Hopefully everyone's got through today injury-free. The rest of the couple, obviously dropping Joe and Jake without any minutes is always nice just to get them recovery in the legs. So we'll have a full squad Saturday looking to take all three points."


The Marketmen now have two more home fixtures, which Brothers stressed the importance of making them count, "Yeah, I think it is. At this level, it's a massive, massive factor. Obviously, you know the pitch. You know you've got your home support, and generally, it's just that added-edge playing at home. We all want to make this ground as cliche as it is a fortress. We haven't had the greatest results in the league recently here. Obviously, the Bishop-Stortford one comes to mind, butt I think that is a one-off. Normally, we are very strong at home, solid foundation. And if we can put them away like we did today or tonight, we should come away with a positive result."


Goalscorer and Man Of The Match Tommy Smith reflects on Tuesday's victory.


"A Cup game is just about getting through and we've done that. That's the main thing, so I'm happy to be in the next round."


When asked if it makes It sweeter having not got the results the performances deserved in the previous two matches, the defender said, "we've been playing well the majority of the season, barring the odd game. The performances have been pretty consistent and at some point the goals are going to come, and they did tonight, so that was good."


On opening the scoring, "not often do I score, let alone with my head, so I'm happy to have scored tonight. To be fair, I'm trying to get forward a lot more, not only to help with the attack, but to score and to assist and all sorts, so I'm happy that I could have done that tonight."


On being chosen as MOTM, "Yes, it's always nice. A clean sheet, that's the main thing as well, so I'm obviously happy about that. You just want to win and a clean sheet in the Cup. I'm not really that bothered, to be fair, about anything else, so that's just about getting through to the next round."


Asked about the importance of this competition he added, "we want to win this Cup every single year. That's the bottom line. We always want to win it. Obviously, before I got here, they were winning it most years. Obviously, I won it as well a couple of years back, so we want to get back to that."


Looking ahead to Saturday's league clash he said, "Stourbridge are always a tough team in this league, pretty consistent. You know what you're going to get when you play these Midlands teams, so another tough game. It's nice to have some home games as well now after the travelling from Saturday and last Saturday as well, so it's nice to be back on home turf. Saturday travel was tough, so it's nice to be here for the next week or so."

 
 
 
bottom of page