A.F.C. Sudbury travelled the short distance to Needham Market for this Alan Boon Cup 4^th Round tie. Bloomfields had weathered the torrential over-night rain well and the league leaders were up against one of the league’s form teams in A.F.C. Sudbury, unbeaten in eight matches and steadily climbing the Ryman’s League Division One North table.

Needham Market kicked off the match on a blustery and very cold night. An early Needham break saw Jack Wilkinson shoot straight at a well-positioned Danny Gay in the Sudbury goal. In the sixth minute Needham Market’s strong opening continued as Danny Thrower sent a shot from thirty yards high over the crossbar. Scott Chaplin was next to carve out an opportunity, this time Danny Gay diving to his right to smother and then re-gather the ball. The first quarter-hour negotiated, Sudbury then found Jack Wignall booked for a foul on former Sudbury man Danny Bloomfield. In a rare Sudbury foray forward, Ashley Sloots found James Baker in the Needham penalty area, but the Sudbury captain couldn’t get the ball under control as it swerved in the wind.

On eighteen minutes Luke Nicoll making his full first team debut, delivered a testing free-kick which James Baker rose to head wide of Andrew Plummer’s goal. On twenty minutes Scott Chaplin’s run ended with a dangerous ball across the Sudbury penalty area, Ryan Henshaw clearing at full stretch to avert the danger. The first corner kick of the match came after twenty-three minutes. Danny Thrower delivered from the right and Scott Chaplin’s shot was blocked and the ball hurried up-field by the Sudbury defence. Needham came back once again on the attack, this time Bradley Barber firing over Danny Gay’s crossbar. David Wareham joined Jack Wignall in the book for dissent on twenty-seven minutes before Deakan Napier raced through the middle only for Danny Gay to smother the move and for the ball to be cleared.

Sudbury won their first corner on the half-hour, and again Nicoll delivered a set-piece dangerously with Plummer punching clear. Jemel Fox picked up the loose ball and fired a speculative shot past the left hand post. James Baker stole the ball from Barber after Evans’ throw went slightly awry. Baker’s shot slipped wide of the left hand post in Sudbury’s best chance in the match thus far. On thirty-two minutes Luke Nicoll delivered another good free-kick from mid-field and the resultant scramble in the home penalty area almost saw both Rhys Darg and James Baker get shots through the forest of legs and bodies. Needham responded with Thrower bursting through, but Jacob Brown got in a superb challenge to stop the Needham man in his tracks. Just before the break, Jose Espinosa pounced on a poor A.F.C. Sudbury clearance and finished with aplomb past Danny Gay. It was one of a few chances in a largely scrappy and dour first half in which neither side had been able to master the very difficult conditions.

H-T Needham Market 1 AFC Sudbury 0

The second-half started with Napier roaring through the centre to fire in a shot which Danny Gay gathered at the second attempt. James Baker combined well with David Wareham on the right wing and the latter’s cross was fired high over the Needham Market crossbar by Rhys Darg. Sudbury drew level in the fiftieth minute. Ryan Henshaw sent a superb free-kick, all but on half-way, into the Needham penalty area with Rhys Darg rising high to plant a header in the home net. Needham responded immediately with only a superb block by Danny Gay denying Napier on the charge. Danny Bloomfield then fired high over the Sudbury crossbar as the opening ten minutes of the half promised better fare than the opening period had offered.

Jose Espinosa then sliced through the heart of the Sudbury defence, but Danny Gay was quickly out to block the Needham number nine’s shot. On the hour Chaplin’s free-kick was bent around the defensive wall and saved by Danny Gay. Sam Clarke entered the fray with Luke Nicoll making way in the sixty-first minute. A minute later and Espinosa was fouled on the right wing by Jacob Brown. The Needham players appealed for a penalty, but a free-kick was the result and despite a scramble in the Sudbury penalty area, the ball eventually rolled behind for a goal-kick and a chance for Sudbury to take a little of the sting out of the game and regroup. Rhys Darg was booked on sixty-eight minutes for stealing the ball from a Needham Market free-kick, claiming that the home side had taken the set-piece. Sudbury had been defending stoutly, but their resolve was broken on seventy minutes when Jose Espinosa added his second goal of the evening to put the hosts back into the lead.

Just two minutes later and Sudbury were again level. James Baker rapped a pile-driver off the home crossbar. From a follow-up shot Andrew Plummer carried the ball behind his goal-line at the expense of a corner. Sam Clarke’s low corner was partially cleared, but his redelivery was much better and Rhys Darg rose to level the scores. In an extraordinary six minute period, Darg was adjudged to have tripped Plummer whose theatrical trip earned him a second yellow card and an early bath. Adam Dalby came on to replace Ryan Henshaw as the ten men of Sudbury looked to fight on in the now pulsating tie.

On seventy-eight minutes David Wareham found space through the centre, but his curling drive was pushed wide of the post by a quite exceptional save by Plummer. The former Ipswich Town Academy player then denied James Baker with a good save and then, as David Wareham broke free in the penalty area, he pulled off another superb save to deny the resurgent Sudbury side the lead. Sudbury saw out the last minutes of the match as strongly as at any point in the match, despite having just ten men on the park. The whistle went and signalled penalties, no extra-time being played in this competition.

F-T  2-2.

PENALTIES

1. James Baker (A.F.C. Sudbury) Saved by Plummer down the middle. 0-0

1. Danny Bloomfield (Needham Market) Saved, right, by Danny Gay. 0-0
2. Sam Clarke (A.F.C. Sudbury) Scored, top corner right. 0-1
3. Jack Wilkinson (Needham Market) Right-footed, central, saved by Danny Gay. 0-1

1. David Wareham (A.F.C. Sudbury) Scored. Left Corner 0-2

3.   Danny Thrower (Needham Market) Scored. Left-footed, right of goal. 1-2

4.   Jack Wignall (A.F.C. Sudbury) Scored. Right. 1-3

4.   Angelo Harrop (Needham Market) Scored. Left corner. 2-3

5.    Jemel Fox (A.F.C. Sudbury) Saved 2-3

5.    Ollie Fen (Needham Market) Scored 3-3

After 5 penalties, the score was 3-3

SUDDEN-DEATH PENALTIES

1. Danny Gay (A.F.C. Sudbury) Scored (high right corner)

1. Scott Chaplin (Needham Market) Saved

A.F.C. Sudbury win 4-3 on Penalties.

Richard Whiting