Club Notes 24 September 2016

With the Inter As proceeding to the next round of the Suffolk FA Senior Reserves Cup, courtesy of the sad withdrawal of Felixstowe Harpers' Reserves, attention was entirely focused on the Seniors' away game at Haughley. The villagers had suffered somewhat in the close period with several of their seasoned players leaving for whatever reasons but, on the face of it, they seem to be pulling things together and yours truly was quite impressed with the squad they fielded on a very warm day rather spoilt by a troublesome wind.

The Seniors got off to the best situation a team needs when Sean Hanley expertly finished off a fine move to register a dream start. However, if Achilles' loyal band of travelling supporters thought there was more to come they were disappointed and our hosts gave as good as they received and they could well have been on terms or even ahead at the break.

The second half followed a similar pattern and Haughley equalised via an absolute cracker of a strike. However, with the match seemingly destined for a sharing of the points a swerving free kick by Matty Ryland was mishandled by Haughley's 'keeper (his only mistake in an otherwise fine performance) giving us all three points and a significant move closer to leaders, Crane Sports, in the Senior table. In addition to Matty, there were fine performances by asst manager, Andy Coote, and an excellent cameo performance from Matt McCarthy.

This coming Saturday the Seniors welcome Stanton to Salmet Close while the Inter As make the short trip down the road to near neighbours, Ipswich Athletic.