Exclusive: Long Melford boss Liam Joyce given four more games to save his job ahead of Thurlow Nunn League trip to Mulbarton Wanderers
‘I think the next four games will be crucial’ – that is the timeframe Long Melford manager Liam Joyce appears to now have to show that his chairman’s view that things are starting ‘to turn a corner’ is correct.
Otherwise, Geoff Thomas, also the Stoneylands club’s treasurer, and his committee may feel the time has come for both parties to move forward without each other.
It comes after Joyce, in his first senior manager role, told SuffolkNews and the Suffolk Free Press people should ‘judge me after the next five weeks’ following a chastening night at Needham Market where a team including effectively trailists were pummelled 12-0 in the Suffolk Premier Cup against Kevin Horlock’s four-in-a-row Step 2 holders.
Those five games passed the weekend before last with a record of two points accrued from a possible 15 to leave Melford on eight and second bottom, a point clear of Thurlow Nunn League Premier Division basement side Sheringham, whom they drew 2-2 at. Worryingly for the Villagers’ hierarchy, they are now five points from safety ahead of Saturday’s trip to face eighth-placed Mulbarton Wanderers (3pm).
But in the defence of former AFC Sudbury and Braintree Town first-team coach Joyce, who was chosen from three interviewed candidates to succeed the departed David Hennessey in the summer, has had a punishing injury list which has seen three goalkeepers don the number one shirt alone.
With Joyce having had a clear out of the mid-table finishing squad left to him following Hennessey’s decision to depart – who went on to be announced as AFC Sudbury’s general manager – 44 players have now been used, which compares with 32 for their upcoming opponents Mulbarton and 31 for current table-toppers Ely City.
Thomas said: “We have started playing better and got some points on the board – we have amazingly got more points than this time last year – so we are in a situation where we will be going into Mulbarton and hopefully we may have turned the corner and that is where we are at the moment.”
He later added: “I think the next four weeks will be crucial.”
Following the trip to Mulbarton, the following Saturdays see Melford face: Dereham Town (4th, H), Kirkley & Pakefield (12th, A) and Ely City (1st, H).
Joyce has said he still has six outfield players absent through injury heading into the weekend, including the continued absence of key striker Ryan Gibbs, whose has a wrist in a splint still, while defender Deklyn Roy has been struggling with ‘knee issues’. Versatile player Ben Humphreys (hamstring) is the latest to join the list.
The Melford boss – who is a UEFA B licence holder – is set to have a selection headache between the posts with young keeper Jayden Smith, who has only made one appearance this season, now back in contention to compete with Thomas Streatsman, a 21-year-old who was signed from Step 7 Hatfield Peverel.
Greenwood’s U23s shine
With Joyce’s side not in action last weekend, the club’s focus turned to the under-23s’ Chell Trophy home tie with Soham Town Rangers. It saw Lee Greenwood’s side continue a promising start to the campaign – sitting fourth in the Thurlow Nunn League Under-23s South – with a 2-1 comeback victory sealed late on by Thom Chance’s winner after Ollie Bloomfield’s first-half equaliser. It came after tempers flared in the 86th minute with Soham’s Corey Braybrooke and Melford’s Freddie Bayliss both sent off.
They travel to basement side Clacton tomorrow.
