Club Notes 21 January 2018

Joy and disappointment for the Achilles' camp yesterday with the Seniors winning an epic SIL Senior League struggle for both home and away teams at Henley, while the Reserves, against League B opponents Haughley Reserves in the Travel Plus League Cup, were surprisingly beaten by our deserving visitors to Salmet Close.

The Henley match, watched by some 100 spectators, was "rip roaring" from start to finish with the scoreline rocketing from Achilles one up, Henley fighting back and 2-1 up by the break, Achilles taking over for a while to establish a 4-2 lead, reduced to 4-3, up to 5-3, finishing out at 5-4 despite a late few minutes which saw Henley hit the bar and then have a confident appeal for a penalty turned down.

Despite his (big) brother leaving the action early on with a hamstring strain, Lee Grimwood (coincidentally returning after a similar problem) was Achilles' star with a fine hattrick, with captain, Keiron Donovan, and Gav Van Oene completing the nap hand. What a match!

Assisted by other results, the win raises Achilles back to top spot in the SIL Senior League table and the twin advantages of games in hand and a good goals for/against tally everything is poised for manager, Luke Hillyard's, tilt at the title. That's not to forget the attempt to retain the SFA Senior Cup with the next round a home tie against Felixstowe Harpers a in few weeks' time.

Meanwhile, the Reserves (from the SIL A Division and with on paper a strong squad available) were comprehensively beaten by the squad from the lower B Division. The "stats" would show that our lads enjoyed something like 70% of the play and, probably, the same margin of shots on goal but it was our fast raiding visitors who rattled in four after a single goal advantage at the break, move on to the next round. Robert Bucys was Achilles' marksman after a mazy dribble.

This coming Saturday (27th) the Seniors welcome Leiston St Margarets to Salmet Close.