22nd March 2022
Mildenhall Town vs Leiston @ The Riverside Stadium - Mildenhall
Suffolk Premier Cup - Quarter Final
19:45 KO
£9 entry
Attendance - TBA
Half-time score: Mildenhall Town 0-1 Leiston
Goal:
Leiston: Davies - 25'
Leigh Simons recorded the goal, see link below:
Final Score: Mildenhall Town 0-1 Leiston
There was an intriguing cup tie on at Mildenhall tonight, where high-flying Thurlow Nunn side Mildenhall Town were hosting Step 3 side Leiston, currently Suffolk's highest placed non-league team. It would be interesting to see how wide the gap is between the divisions, and to see if Mildenhall Town could trouble the visitors at all.
On the way in, I picked up a special Suffolk Premier Cup matchday programme, another great one from Barnes Print.
Leiston won the toss and elected to shoot downhill, which looked to be a great choice as they got off to a blistering start. Within 30 seconds, Odulesi twisted his way into the box, got through on goal, but blasted his shot into the side-netting. In the 3rd minute, Fernandes had the ball on the left flank, he played a deft backheel to release Ocran who cut into the box and fired in a low shot that was well saved by Mildenhall keeper Pope. In the 6th minute, Ocran picked up the ball down the right but wildly lashed his shot wide. Having weathered the initial storm, Mildenhall managed a rare attack into Leiston territory and were rewarded with a corner. The ball was whipped in, and Stewart was found unmarked, he attempted a volley but failed to connect, it would have been a spectacular goal if he pulled it off.
Leiston continued to press for an opener, and in the 16th minute, Ocram picked up the ball on the left, stepped inside and cracked off a 20 yard strike that was well saved by Pope. In the 21st minute, a looping ball was dinked in by Odulesi, it was sailing close to the top corner and had Pope desperately scrambling back, but went over. In the 25th minute, a fast Leiston attack saw Ocran pick up ball down left, he played in the onrushing captain Dunbar down the left, who quickly fired in a dangerous ball, and striker Davies managed to get an outstretched leg to the ball first to flick it in, a very neat finish, and a 1-0 lead for Leiston. Leiston almost got a second soon after, in the 29th minute, Quantrell stole the ball in midfield, played in goalscorer Davies who tried a 25yard lob that was a lot closer than it initially looked, but it was narrowly over.
Mildenhall tried to play themselves back into the game, and they were having some luck in the midfield where they were stealing the ball with some regularity, and in one instance in the 35th minute, Miles Smith won the ball, played a 1-2 and was unleashed down the right wing, he crossed a good ball into Dan Brown whose headed effort was marginally over. Mildenhall ended the half on a high, although they were struggling to break down the resolute Leiston defence.
In the second-half, despite shooting uphill, Leiston looked the more dangerous team, and in the 49th minute, a low driven ball into the box from Altintop was nearly turned in by a Mildenhall player. In the 54th minute, Barnes drove down the right flank and whipped a good ball into Davies, who only managed minimal contact with his head, sending the ball out for a goal-kick. In the 57th minute, Mildenhall keeper Pope came out to intercept a Leiston attack, the ball ended up with Odulesi who was open for a chip but opted to strike and blazed over. In the 63rd minute, good work from Dunbar down the left allowed him to burst towards goal and find Davies in the box, he laid the ball back to Fernandes who chipped up the ball and volleyed wide.
As the second half progressed, Mildenhall grew into the game, and found themselves on-top of the midfield battle as they hunted for a goal, but penetrating the organised Leiston back line was proving to be difficult. In the 79th, from another set-piece, there was a goalmouth scramble, the ball fell to Ruddy directly in front of the goal and he put his foot through it, but it was blocked by Altintop who certainly knew about it. The ball was recycled and sent back in, and Nolan went close with his header. For all of Mildenhall's hard work, quality in the final third was lacking, but with the last play of the game, they almost took the game to extra time. A long ball was pinged forward, it eventually found Nolan on the edge of the box, he went down but managed to control the ball and lay it back to Brown, whose sweet left-footed 20 yard strike had beaten keeper Donkin, but it flew agonisingly wide of the upright, almost taking the game to penalties. Shortly after, the referee blew the final whistle, thereby sending Leiston through to the semi-finals of the competition.
That was a really entertaining game, for large parts of the game, Leiston dominated, and should have been able to put a margin between themselves and Mildenhall, but after wasting a few chances, they began to get petulant, allowing Mildenhall back into the game. For a team two leagues below Leiston, Mildenhall gave a good account of themselves, and in the final 20 minutes of each half, began to dominate the midfield and out-muscle the higher level outfit, but they lacked cutting edge upfront, I think Tanner Call was a big miss today. Nevertheless, they can certainly be proud of their performance. With regards to Leiston, they look to face either Needham Market, Stowmarket Town or Kirkley & Pakefield, the later of which sensationally defeated higher level Felixstowe and Walton United 4-0 away from home, in the semi-final of the cup, it is certainly going to be hotly contested. The final will be at a place familiar to me in Colchester United's home-ground, the JCS, due to upgrades that will be going on at Portman Road, so I will try to get to this game, whoever is playing.
Line-Ups:
MILDENHALL TOWN: Josh Pope, Charlie Hitch, Rob Ruddy, Luke Butcher (C), Darryl Coakley, Miles Smith, Lewis Hilliard, Natty Stewart, Ben Nolan, Ryan Hawkins, Dan Brown. SUBS: Tommy Robinson, Zac Morley, Aaron Hamer, Kai Perpetuo, Scott Chaplin.
LEISTON: Sam Donkin, Ollie Saunders, Seb Dunbar (C), Siju Odulesi, Baris Altintop, Jake Hutchings, Finlay Barnes, Iuri Fernandes, Will Davies, George Quantrell, Brendan Ocran. SUBS: Joe Marsden, Adam Mills, Adam Bailey-Dennis, Sonny Wright.
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