JOINT manager Matt Grove said it will be ‘absolutely amazing’ for Cornard United to end the season with a cup final at Portman Road.

Cornard defeated Ipswich Wanderers 2-1 at Millfield, home of Hadleigh United FC, on Friday night in their CNet Training Suffolk Senior Cup Semi-Final tie.

Grove and Michael Schofield only took over in late September, but have guided Cornard to their first Suffolk Senior Cup Final since the club beat Sudbury Wanderers 1-0 in the 1988-89 season.

Cornard led through Lewis Blanchett’s 19th minute goal, but Josh Folkes equalised for Wanderers in the 63rd minute, before Max Dinnell netted the winner ten minutes later.

Goalkeeper Grove said: “We got there in the end, although we were hanging on right at the death and I thought it may go to penalties.

“But we dug in and showed a lot of character. Everyone put a shift in for us and we rode our luck at times a little bit.

“We opened the scored against the run of play in the first-half, but that settled the nerves down and we kicked on from there.

“They scored a good equaliser, and it was a great game for the neutral to watch with chance after chance, but we took one of ours to go back in front and could have had a third, but it was ruled out for offside.”

Grove reflected: “It is absolutely amazing to end the season with a cup final at Portman Road when you see where we have come from with the new players from where we started when we took over in late September.

“To be perfectly honest it has been a bit of a dream the past few months as we have been playing fantastic football and beating teams we shouldn’t really be beating and the sky is the limit with the guys.

“It is incredible and it means so much to the fans as well. We are putting Cornard on the map.”

Ipswich Wanderers boss Mark Goldfinch said: “We made two mistakes for their goals which is very unusual for us. We didn’t play as well as we have been, although we created a few chances but didn’t find the back of the net.

“Some key players for us didn’t turn up tonight, whether it was nerves or pressure I don’t know, but saying that we were always in the game.

“Jack Severy has been unavailable recently, but we knew if we needed a goal we could bring him on and he put a superb ball in for the equaliser.

“I thought we could go on and win it, but then another mistake let them in for their second goal and it deflated us.”

The Cornard United players are pictured above in a huddle just prior to kick-off.