Haverhill Rovers Under-18s boss Harry Zachariou states side’s Veo Under-18s Midweek Cup achievement against Bury Town ‘will not happen again’

Haverhill Rovers Under-18s boss Harry Zachariou believes that no team will ever achieve what his side have accomplished after his squad, all aged 16 or younger, lifted the Veo Under-18s Midweek Cup in a five-goal thriller against Bury Town on Wednesday night.

Haverhill’s youngsters edged the tie 3-2 at Colchester United’s Jobserve Community Stadium, having obtained a two-goal lead, thanks to Micky Cipriani’s low effort 13 minutes from time, that trickled into the bottom-left corner past Ollie Kellett in the Bury goal.

This proved to be the only notable action from a second half that was a complete contrast to the action-packed end-to-end first period that came before it.

“It’s unbelievable. I was sat watching this game last year and we were an under-15 team, and now we’re an under-16 team,” said the Rovers boss, who was snuck up on and drenched in champagne by one of his players in the post-match celebrations.

“I thought, ‘one day it would be nice’ (for his side to win the cup), but I wasn’t thinking this year, I wasn’t even thinking the following year, I was thinking maybe in our under-18 year, and we’ve done it two years earlier.

“I told them that teams don’t even enter at under-16s. We play against teams week in week out who have maybe one or two players who are under-16s, these are all under-16s.

“It’s immortality what’s happened. It won’t happen again, it will not happen again that a team at under-16 will win the under-18s Suffolk Cup. Never, ever.”

Joshua Evans – who has had spells in the Rovers first team – gave Haverhill the lead with a cultured finish into the roof of the net, moments after he skimmed the post with a header, before their advantage was swiftly doubled two minutes later by Fraser Bull, as the final looked like it would be a routine victory for Zachariou’s outfit.

But how wrong that proved to be, as Bury, who sit nine points below Haverhill in the Thurlow Nunn Youth League Cambridge Division table, picked themselves up to halve the deficit, when Teddy Hogg’s high-hanging header from a free kick nestled into the far corner.

With a shift in momentum, Bury’s pressure forced a mistake in the Rovers back line that was punished by captain Ben Curtis – who could not miss as he pounced on the error to level the contest seven minutes before the break from close range.

The goals and the chances dried up until Cipriani’s winner. The midfielder, overjoyed with adrenaline, rallied his side together in celebration before knee-sliding towards the supporters – that contained friends and family of the squad.

“Micky (Cipriani)’s such a good lad and I couldn’t have wished for anybody else to score a goal like that. The smile he brings to the team, he’s always smiling, it’s well deserved and a big winning goal,” said Zachariou.

“They were the better team on the night and I thought it was well deserved. I’m chuffed to bits, I can’t explain. I’m not normally lost for words.

“They’re a good bunch. I’ve had four or five of these since under-9s and there’s a lot of boys that have been together (for a long time).”