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Martlesham march on in FA Sunday Cup

“PURE jubilation and pride” as Borussia Martlesham reach the FA Sunday Cup Quarter-Finals.

“PURE jubilation and pride” greeted Borussia Martlesham reaching the quarter-finals of this season’s FA Sunday Cup.

The Ipswich Sunday Football League club came back from 2-0 at the interval to defeat VIP International from the Midlands 3-2 in the fourth round at Woodbridge Town FC on Sunday.

Second-half goals from Ian Gosling, Aaron King and Aaron Greenwood set up a quarter-final tie away to St Josephs of Luton on Sunday, February 19th.

Borussia Martlesham fell behind after just two minutes and it looked bleak for the home team when their opponents extended their lead on the half hour.

However, Gosling latched onto a through ball and rounded the keeper before rolling home into an empty net to halve the deficit a minute after half-time.

King then equalised with a header virtually on the goalline in the 51st minute after the visitors’ keeper failed to hold a corner.

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Aaron King (yellow shirt, left) heads home from almost on the goalline to draw Borussia Martlesham level in their FA Sunday Cup tie. Main photograph: Aaron Greenwood (No.9) turns away to celebrate his winning goal for Borussia Martlesham. Photographs: Stefan Peck

Just six minutes later Greenwood got the winner, firing home the goal of the game into the top corner from the edge of the box.

Assistant manager Max Wilding, who was again in charge in the absence of Alan Whittaker, said of his half-time team talk: “It wasn’t a difficult team talk.

“We’d played poorly first half but as a group we’ve been together a long time and I trust the boys to know what they need to do better.

“We just said the half’s done you’ve got 45 minutes to turn it around; we didn’t really need to do anything tactically, just play with a bit more intensity and get at them a bit more.

“We said at half time if we get one early we’re in this game. I always felt confident that the game was there for the taking, obviously scoring so quickly really put them on the back foot and the boys played with much higher intensity which I think caught them out as we weren’t at it first half.”  

As the final whistle blew Wilding said: “There was a feeling of pure jubilation and pride in the lads and also the club. We had a decent crowd in and everyone was made up for each other.” 

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Aaron Greenwood fires home the winning goal for Borussia Martlesham from just outside the penalty area. Photograph: Stefan Peck

After a first-round bye, Borussia Martlesham have won three rounds, all at home, to reach the last eight of this season’s competition.

Wilding said: “It’s quite surreal really. We entered again this year having not won a game in the competition previously, so each game was almost a free hit which helps.

“Certainly, in future years it’s really given us a taste for it. It’s great for the club and gets us some good exposure.”

Wilding said of the quarter-final tie away to St Josephs of Luton in just over a fortnight’s time: “We’re greatly looking forward to it. We know we’ll go into it as the underdog. They have great pedigree in the competition having won it twice and been in six finals.

“We should hopefully have good support and we’ll do our very best to come back with a win.”

Wilding added: “Al (manager Alan Whittaker) is currently on holiday but he’ll be back for St Joes, although we’ve told him he might have to stay away as he’s been away for all the previous rounds!”

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