‘We had quality where it mattered’ – AFC Sudbury chief Danny Laws on seventh Suffolk U18s Midweek Cup victory
AFC Sudbury’s Danny Laws was pleased to see his side handle the pressure of delivering a seventh straight Veo Suffolk U18s Midweek Cup final victory against Needham Market at Colchester United FC.
Following Wednesday evening’s 5-1 victory against first-time finalists Needham Market at the Jobserve Community Stadium, he revealed he had very purposefully called on his current crop to ‘step up to the plate' to avoid being the side that left having failed to lift a trophy.
Most of the Jack Ladbrook-captained side had tasted defeat on the same ground five days previously in the CNet Training Suffolk Senior Cup Final as part of Dave Cannon’s AFC Sudbury Reserves side who lost out 1-0 to Framlingham Town.
It came after they had suffered a painful quarter-final exit in the English Schools’ Football Association (ESFA) Boys Under-18 Super League Cup at Somerset-based Millfield School on March 22.
And while a number of the previous Sudbury sides have celebrated league titles, Laws’ current side ended up coming second in the Thurlow Nunn Youth League South, finishing seven points behind Stanway Rovers.
It meant their legacy at the club all came down to the last 90 minutes for all but a handful of players about to finish their two-year courses ahead of going off in various directions for their next steps.
And despite the one-sided scoreline, Wednesday’s final was far from a stroll in the park.
Colin Grogan’s Needham side gave every bit as good as they got in the opening 45 minutes but found themselves behind on the stroke of half-time to a breath-taking half volley from around 30 yards from Bobby Badham.
Sudbury looked to take the final away from the young Marketmen in a bright start to the second half but their opponents rode a tricky spell out before going on to equalise four minutes after the restart through James Letts’ rebound effort.
Yellows goalkeeper Ryan Dunne then made his second key save of the match, yet again denying Needham captain Seth Chambers with a flying save in the 59th minute.
It was to prove a pivotal moment in the final as within two minutes it was Dunne’s opposite number, Lawrence Robinson, who was picking the ball out of his net following a fine individual goal from Jamie Bennett.
From there there was no looking back for Sudbury as first year Reuben Swann coolly dispatched two fine throughballs from Liam Pearce in a nine minute spell inside the last 20 minutes.
And substitute Kaya Donohue pounced on a defensive mistake to add the icing on the cake in the final regulation minute.
Put to him their seventh straight victory in the competition had been a testing one, despite the scoreline, Sudbury’s head of football Laws said: “Yes, but you also don’t score five goals unless you’re the better team.
“Yes, there’s key moments in there. Everyone’s talking about Ryan’s at 1-1 as a key moment, if that goes in. Needham had a bit of momentum at that time for sure they did, but ultimately I think our quality shone through in the end in two brilliant goals by Reuben.
“I said at half-time to the boys Jamie Bennett’s the best dribbler on the football pitch and he’ll do something, and he dribbled the ball into the net basically, didn’t he? So that was fantastic.
“I thought we were good actually all night. We were workmanlike, we were up for it. We dug in when we had to and as I said, we had quality where it mattered.
“And even the goal at the end there by Kaya, that’s not an easy skill.”
While England Under-19 Futsal international Badham’s opening goal had the 400-plus crowd gasping in awe as it arrowed into the top corner, for Laws it was the moments leading up to that strike which he used to set the tone for the second half.
“Do you know what, I used it as my half-time team-talk because it wasn’t the strike, the strike is amazing, of course it is, and I can’t wait to watch that back on the video,” he said. “But it was the way he ran past Needham players to land on the ball and then he had one thing on his mind and that was to do something with it.
“And I thought sometimes in the first half we didn’t have that intent to land on the ball and intent to drive us forward, we lacked that a little bit.
“And Bobby who has been my holding midfield player said ‘well, get out of my way lads, it’s my turn’.
“Do you know what? I sort of can’t remember the strike. I know it was a good strike, don’t get me wrong, but it was what led up to him striking the ball was what we needed more in the second half. And I thought we did it in the second half, we had lots more of that.
“Reuben’s landed on the ball twice and scored, Jamie’s got his dribbling going with an end product.
“Louie Arnold’s flicking it round the corner and Bobby Rea’s in.
“Jamie Eveleigh wide right when he came on just added a bit of pace, and we just had more of that for more moments and that’s ultimately why we’ve won it again.”
He added: “They’ve just added their names to that legacy. And do you know what? I put a bit of pressure on them this week.
“We lost a big national under-18 cup (quarter-final defeat) that I thought we would win this year and we didn’t.
“I put a bit of pressure on them saying basically step up to the plate or you’ll regret it.
“And it was exactly what was on my lips, because I want them to fell pressure, because if you feel pressure as a youth player you’re going to be a successful adult player.
“And this competition is obviously building pressure on next year.
“We’ve got the likes of Reuben and Kaya and Alfie Lambert who all played today.
“I’ve got some other boys watching in the stands who I’ve got some high hopes for, the one’s we’re taking to the US (Las Vegas summer tour).
“So yes, it’s about a legacy and seven is a lovely number, isn’t it? But I’m just thinking about winning that cup for the eighth time.”
AFC Sudbury: Dunne, Arnold (Donohue 78’), Badham (Hart 86’), Burke (Smith 75’), Bennett, Chilvers, Ladbrooke, Lambert (Everleigh 66’), Pearce, Rea, Swann.
Unused substitutes: Catley.
Booked: Burke, Smith.
Attedance: 431.
SuffolkNews Man of the Match: Reuben Swann. Among the youngest in his team but showed a maturity beyond his years with two cool finishes and some nice link-up play. Bobby Badham also deserves a mention for his outrageous goal and Ryan Dunne’s equally impressive save was also a key moment.
