Long Sutton 2 Harleston Magpies 4
Sutton headed to Norfolk to face Harleston Magpies.
Earlier in the season, the lads won 4-2 at home with one of their best performances this year. This time round was always going to be trickier, especially with a depleted 11-man squad through injuries and work commitments.
They welcomed Ben Hales for his first team debut and he slotted in comfortably at right back.
Sutton began brightly putting Magpies under early pressure.
Chances began to rise but it was a mazy run from Josh Baker, finishing with a sweet backhand shot, that broke the deadlock early on and put the greens ahead.
More chances came in the first half for the likes of McKenzie East, Stefan Fox, Brad Sargeant and Baker but they were unable to double the lead.
The lack of subs was starting to take its toll and Magpies slowly came back into the game.
Pressure on the front foot from them meant that, after a tricky five-minute period at the end of the half, the score was 2-1 to the home side.
The second half began slowly again for Sutton and Magpies notched a third.
This did not deter the boys as they came back hard.
East came close with a one-on-one chance, Baker was close with two shots saved on the goal line by outfield players and Fox perhaps unlucky not to win a stroke.
A couple of corners were also won for the travelling side and a well worked routine came a whisker away from being slotted home.
Finally, the hard work was rewarded after Jimmy Harrison found Baker, who after beating a few players, span the ball into East who was left to slot the ball past the Magpies’ keeper to reduce the deficit to one.
The defence were working admirably on tired legs, while the attack were working hard to create as much as they could to level up the scores but it wasn’t to be.
A late sucker punch from Magpies on the break all but confirmed the result.
