Saturday's local football round-up: Bury Town and Leiston left flying Suffolk's flag in the FA Cup while Walsham-le-Willows latest side to hit Haverhill Rovers for four
Bury Town comfortably sealed their passage into the third qualifying round of the Emirates FA Cup with a 4-1 scoreline at home to Waltham Abbey, who had to play almost three quarters of the match with 10 men.
Manager Ben Chenery has called on his players to use the frustration and anger at Tuesday's late fog abandonment - leading 5-0 with seven minutes to play at home to Witham Town - as fuel for FA Cup progression.
And that certainly seemed to have worked when Cemal Ramadan fired them into the lead with a cool finish within 24 seconds of kick off.
The 26th minute straight red card shown to Prince Domafriyie for a rash challenge on Ipswich Town loanee Connor O'Reilly left the visitors with a big challenge to get back into the tie.
They kept it at 1-0 at half-time but a 52nd penalty saw Ramadan double Bury's lead before a plethora of chances eventually led to a third arriving through Jake Chambers Shaw following a 77th minute corner.
The 10 men pulled it back to 3-1 in the 81st minute when Aaron Gordon converted from inside the area but a fine run and finish from substitute Cruise Nyadzayo in the final minute wrapped things up in front of another pandemic restricted 400 capacity crowd at Ram Meadow.
Brantham Athletic were the sole representatives of the Thurlow Nunn League left in the competition but found higher-league Aveley a step too far as they exited the competition on home turf in a 3-0 defeat.
Leiston did manage to give Suffolk another side still flying the flag in the famous old competition though with a 2-1 success at Leighton Town.
All the goals came in the first half with Liam Jackson's sixth minute penalty followed by Will Davies' 14th minute effort, following good work by Finlay Barnes and Jackson, to put Darren Eadie's side in firm control.
Leighton pulled one back before the break Archie McClelland but could not find a way back into the tie in the second half, with the visitors unfortunate not to extend their lead.
In the Pitching In Southern League Premier Central, Needham Market kept their position at the top of the early table with a 3-1 home victory against Suffolk rivals Lowestoft Town, despite playing more than a half with 10 men.
Jake Dye got things off to a great start for the home side in the 14th minute by heading in a Gareth Heath free kick at the far post for the long-serving right-back's first league goal.
Just five minutes later it was 2-0 when summer signing Byron Lawrence slammed home a loose ball from a Ben Fowkes cross.
Jake Reed headed home from close range to pull one back for the Trawlerboys just before the half-hour mark, while Needham were dealt a big blow in the 35th minute when Keiran Morphew was shown a red card for a last man challenge.
It did not adversely affect Kevin Horlock's side through who had come close to a third through Lawrence shortly before Callum Page converted from a couple of yards out in the 68th minute after Fowkes' effort came back off the crossbar.
Lowestoft, who had knocked the Marketmen out of the FA Cup last season, had no answer as Jamie Godbold's side saw their unbeaten record end in their fourth league game, though they remain fifth in the table. Needham are two points clear at the summit after their four matches, albeit having played a game more than the overwhelming majority of teams in the division.
In the Pitching In Isthmian League North Division AFC Sudbury fell to back-to-back defeats and four losses in all competitions, 3-0 at home to Hullbridge Sports in front of a crowd of 247.
George Cocklin converted from close-range in the 22nd minute and the visitors struck twice without reply in the second half, a Lewis Watson header following a corner in the 75th minute and a lobbed finish from substitute Joseph Wright five minutes from time.
While two victories from two saw Hullbridge go top of the embryonic table, Sudbury slipped to 14th after their three matches.
Felixstowe & Walton United followed up their mid-week last gasp success at home to Sudbury (3-2) with another late goal, a 90th minute penalty from Callum Bennett, seeing them take a point in a 2-2 draw at Dellwood Avenue against promotion-chasing Coggeshall Town.
Lamell Howell's 27th minute effort had quickly replied to Aryton Coley's opener two minutes previously before Matthew Price had put the visitors into a 2-1 lead on the stroke of half-time in front of a crowd of 391.
It sees the Seasiders drop a place to 5th while Coggeshall dropped a place to 9th.
Soham Town Rangers were without a game ahead of returning to action in a derby at Cambridge City on Wednesday.
In the Thurlow Nunn League Premier Division, Walsham-le-Willows made it three straight 4-0 defeats for Haverhill Rovers to move themselves up to fourth in the early table.
The Willows' home success, which came off the back of Wednesday high-pleasing 5-2 victory at their Morrish Stadium base against Newmarket Town, saw Kieren Twinn grab all four goals.
His opener did not come until the 35th minute, with a close-range strike, but there was a steady stream of goals thereafter for a memorable day for the player and the club.
The defeat sees Rovers drop a place to 17th with just four points from their opening seven matches.
Long Melford are also struggling with their early season form and now have just a point from their four matches following a 4-0 loss at home to current league leaders Wroxham, who took their perfect record to six matches.
After a fairly tepid goalless first half when neither team caused a lot of excitement, Melford seemed to capitulate in the second period with the Norfolk team taking command of the game to run out easy winners.
Goals came from Brad Spooner, Chris Skipper, Shaun Taylor and Matt Ward.
Mildenhall Town moved up to 9th with an eye-catching 4-1 home win against a Gorleston side who had made a number of high-profile additions to state their promotion ambitions.
One of those, King's Lynn Town's National League promotion winning Chris Henderson, opened the scoring for the visitors but Ricky Cornish's team replied with two quick goals and a penalty to lead 3-1 by half-time.
They then put the result beyond doubt with an unanswered goal in the second period as they unbeaten start stretched to four games. James Hall (2), Tanner Call and Matt Green were all on target.
Two goals early in the second half saw Hadleigh United to a Suffolk derby victory over Woodbridge Town, 2-1 at their Millfield base.
Kade Ivatt converted following a corner in the 52nd minute before Matt Paine doubled their advantage with a low strike five minutes later.
Woodbridge pulled one back in the 78th minute with Hadleigh crediting it as an unnamed own goal.
The three points sees Hadleigh rise a place to 5th in the table while Woodbridge are 18th with just a solitary point from their opening five matches.
Newmarket Town (15th) saw their poor start to the campaign continue with a 4-1 defeat at second-placed Norwich United.
James Seymour's header had seen them reply to falling behind but they trailed 2-1 at half-time, before conceding two more unanswered goals after the break.
It leaves Michael Shinn's side four points from their opening four matches.
Meanwhile, Whitton United (12th) lost 4-2 at Stanway Rovers.
Elsewhere in the division, Stowmarket Town's home game with Ely City was called off on Friday with members of the visiting camping awaiting coronavirus test results .
In the Thurlow Nunn League First Division South, Halstead Town dropped a place to 11th after falling to a 3-2 home defeat to White Ensign, despite a late fightback.
In front of an impressive home crowd - totalling 201 -The Humbugs had trailed 3-0 by the hour mark but a Ricky Gardner close range header in the 72nd minute and a penalty converted by debutant Joel Older four minutes late had sent up an exciting conclusion where they fell just short.
In the Thurlow Nunn League First Division North, Debenham LC produced the result of the day by becoming the first side to take points off early pacesetters Lakenheath in a 3-2 home victory.
Jay Cole, man-of-the-match Brad Austin and Jac Garrard were on target for The Hornets who move up to 11th with seven points from seven matches, while Lakenheath drop to second.
Ipswich Wanderers are the side who have taken over at the summit, following a 3-1 home success over King's Lynn Town Reserves with goals from Matt Blake, Tom Driscoll and George Mrozek.
Diss Town (10th) drew 2-2 at home to AFC Sudbury Reserves (7th) with Kyle Baker scoring both the Tangerines' goals in front of a crowd of 83.
But it will feel like two points dropped for Michael King's Diss side after the young Sudbury visitors scored their equaliser in the last minute.
Elsewhere in the division, Cornard United (15th) lost 3-1 at home to unbeaten Fakenham Town and Framlingham Town (13th) lost 2-1 at Great Yarmouth Town.
Needham Market Reserves' match at Leiston Reserves in the Suffolk Senior Cup first round was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.
