NEWMARKET TOWN 2 v. IPSWICH WANDERERS 0

SUFFOLK PREMIER CUP 1ST ROUND

TUESDAY 11TH OCTOBER 2005

It was a warm evening at Newmarket although a breeze got up later in the game to give an advantage to the team playing towards the road. Ricky Martin got a start after several games coming off the bench and Jamie Baker moved to the centre of midfield. It was last season’s so successful front line of Hurd, Tournay-Godfrey, Swann and Martin that spent the first 30 minutes almost camped out in the Newmarket half, giving their defence a good working over, but without that most essential of  ingredients, a goal!

Within 2 minutes of the start Jamie Baker had beautifully weighted a pass to Rene Swann but he chose to shoot at the ‘keeper instead of squaring the ball to Ricky Martin or Dean Tournay-Godfrey. A piece of simple passing football nearly earned Wanderers the opening goal on 8 mins as Marc Lowe, Jamie Baker and Ricky Martin’s first time balls ended with Dean Tournay-Godfrey’s header being pushed over the bar by ‘keeper Youngs. Jamie Baker then put the pressure on his own defence when he gave the ball away playing out of the last 3rd and Jason Dozzell blocked Reed’s shot. Wanderers’ elegant attacking play continued and on 14 mins Dean Tournay-Godfrey’s chest down and long pass to Jorrell Hurd on the right gave the latter a shot which Youngs could only block. A foul on Ricky Martin on 20 mins was penalised just outside the area and Dean Tournay-Godfrey’s low free kick was saved by Youngs at the near post.

The pace of Dean Tournay-Godfrey and Rene Swann through the middle, the skills of Ricky Martin and Jorrell Hurd out wide and the support of the midfield were causing Newmarket all sorts of problems and it looked only a matter of time before Wanderers got their first goal of the evening!

It all went wrong on 31 mins as Mee headed Newmarket into the lead from the back post as the ball from a free kick seemed to skim over the heads of defenders and attackers alike across the area. Ricky Martin’s back pass on 35 mins was ill advised but resulted in only a corner which was easily cleared. With cries of ‘don’t panic’ from the back, Wanderers had lost their earlier composure and the Newmarket forward line was suddenly finding life a lot easier.

Newmarket Town 1 Ipswich Wanderers 0

Olive skipped through the Wanderers’ defence right from the kick off and Jamie Stannard was forced to punch away his cross, and two further crosses, as Wanderers struggled to clear their lines. Newmarket were now doing to Wanderers what had been done to them in the first half, play some neat passing football and pummel the defence whilst the Newmarket defence negated all Wanderers attacking efforts. On 50 mins, Jamie Baker’s free kick was pin point accurate on the penalty spot but there was no Wanderers head near it; 3 mins later his corner was headed off the line at the near post.

As Wanderers pushed for the equaliser, on 55 mins the ball was lost near the Newmarket area and Okay ran with it from the halfway line unchallenged and, despite Jamie Stannard getting a hand to it, it trickled over the line with Okay following up. Moments later Olive wasted a golden opportunity when he blasted over from 20 yds. On the hour, Okay was again through but this time Jamie Stannard’s fingertips were enough to deflect his deft flick round to post.

Wanderers used all 3 substitutes and there was a mini revival as their frantic efforts to reduce the deficit made for some exciting football but the gaps left at the back gave Newmarket the chance to produce some excitement of their own.

Tracey’s header from the halfway line looped over the defence for Rene Swann to run on to, but his shot went wide; Jorrell Hurd ran from the right corner flag, across goal and fired a shot straight at Youngs’ chest and Rene Swann picked up on a ball which spun off from a tackle by Ricky Martin and again fired wide. At the other end, Newmarket sub Murray showed his pace and tested Mark Goldfinch’s and Matthew Cunningham was a blur as he raced back to clear the ball from Okay’s feet in the far corner. Keith Hetherington turned to shoot on 81 minutes but, with the minutes ticking away, the game went beyond Wanderers’ reach as they ran out of ideas.