Debenham Leisure Centre Suffolk FA Junior Cup Round 2
Saturday 18th October at Greshams Sports Club
Round 2 of the Debenham Leisure Centre Suffolk FA Junior Cup took place on Saturday 18th October and the Suffolk FA were back out in the thick of the action with the Junior Cup Trail leading us to Greshams Sports Club for Willis against Achilles.
Achilles have been enjoying some good form in the league so far this season and currently sit 3rd in the SIL Division 1 table. On the other hand, Willis have had a mixed bag but the main problem has been leaking too many goals. When it comes to the Cup, league form is irrelevant as it boils down to who performs the best on that particular day.
On a sunny but rather cool afternoon, Achilles started the brighter of the two sides and should have been in front as they dominant possession and chances, the first of which fell to striker Robert Bucy; after just 3 minutes he wasted a great chance when he was put through one on one with the ‘keeper but couldn’t open the scoring. Willis found things tough as they were pressurised whenever they had the ball and Bucy had another chance when his header from Micky Adams’ cross was straight at Willis ‘keeper Peter Stevens.
Only 11 minutes were on the clock when Stevens was left motionless; In came a long throw which was glanced on by Achilles midfielder Gavin Paul but it agonisingly struck the post. Paul couldn’t blame bad luck on 15 minutes when he was played through on goal, but with only the keeper to beat from just 8 yards his shot was wide and over when it seemed harder to miss then score!
Following this string of let-offs, Willis settled down into the game with striker Dean Offord seeing more of the ball and starting to create chances for himself and others. It was Offord’s clever play that lead to Willis’ best effort when Michael Haddock’s header was saved by Achilles ‘keeper Marty Smith. However, Achilles were still looking the most likely to get the games first goal and they nearly did when Bucy turned his defender well and struck a fierce curling effort from 25 yards that rattled the Willis crossbar.
As is so often the case in Football though, if you don’t take your chances you are always at risk of not getting what you deserve, and this is exactly what happened 4 minutes before half-time; against the run of play Willis were awarded a free-kick 20 yards from goal and Dean Offord stepped up and curled the ball into the bottom left hand corner of the goal.
At half-time, Achilles would have been devastated to go in 1-0 down, but they could take encouragement from the amount of chances they were creating whereas Willis manager Dennis Tattoo must have been thrilled to have the lead, especially as he would know they could play much better then they did.
With this in mind, Willis started the brighter of the two teams and they got the all important second goal just after half-time. Matthew Thompson picked the ball up just inside the corner of the Achilles 18-yard box, cut inside his man and fired into the far corner on the half-volley. With Achilles chasing the game, the play opened up and Offord almost made it 3-0 when his curling shot was superbly tipped wide by Marty Smith.
Now the game had become end-to end, the play was hurried and scrappy with an air of desperation in the Achilles play. They were throwing men forwards at every opportunity and they were gambling by defending man for man at the back. In the 80th minute they finally got their reward for their attacking play; winger Perry Arthur delivered a deep cross that Willis ‘keeper Peter Stevens seemed to misjudge the flight of and it was nodded in by Adam Nuttall at the back post to make the score 2-1.
The game continued in the same vain with Achilles sending everyone forward and getting balls into the box and then at the other end Willis were counter-attacking at every opportunity with Offord, Thompson and Chmiel all causing problems for the Achilles defence put poor finishing meant the game could still go either way.
In the 88th minute it looked as though Achilles had got the equaliser. Arthur’s cross wasn’t cleared and after a scramble in the box Gavin Paul hooked the bouncing ball into the far post to spark wild celebrations from the Achilles players and bench. But in the midst of these celebrations the Assistant Referee had flagged for offside against an Achilles player in the run-up to the goal.
Undeterred, they carried on applying pressure and deep, deep into stoppage time they were awarded a penalty. Referee Peter Hart was left with a simple decision after the Willis defender has hacked down Perry Arthur. Up stepped Robert Bucy; the striker has 5 goals in 5 games this season and he made it 6 in 6 when he coolly slotted away the penalty to send the game into extra-time.
Extra-time carried on in a similar way to the 90 minutes it followed, Achilles had the majority of possession but Willis always looked a threat on the break and the first person to score would surely progress to Round 3. As it turned out, it was Achilles who got the goal in the 102nd minute as Paul glanced on a cross to Robert Bucy who powered his header into the roof of the net much to the joy of his team mates.
Having been ahead for so long, it Willis who were now having to do the pressing and it was in doing so they conceded what would be the winning goal; in the 109th minute Willis were defending high up the pitch searching to an equaliser when they lost the ball and Perry Arthur managed to break clear of the defence and he clinically finished past the onrushing ‘keeper to send Achilles into Round 3, where they will now face St Edmunds 1965.
Overall, Willis put up a great fight and can take a lot from their performance, especially the way they created numerous chances against a team pushing for promotion back to the SIL Premier Division, whilst Achilles’ dream of Junior Cup glory are still alive!