Saturday's local football round-up: Needham Market, Walsham-le-Willows, Mildenhall Town and AFC Sudbury all enjoy high-scoring wins as teams sign off for the second lockdown with a bang
Ahead of a nationwide second lockdown halting them , it was a good day for Suffolk's four representatives left in the Buildbase FA Trophy.
Felixstowe & Walton United, Leiston Lowestoft and Needham Market all had home advantage with their supporters seeing them off progress through their third round qualifying ties into the first round proper.
The biggest margin of victory was at Needham Market who overcame lower-league Three Bridges 4-1 at Bloomfields on their first outing in this season's competition.
With the club parading their Suffolk Premier Cup with competition sponsors and club sponsors Turners Hyundai involved in a presentation before kick-off, the feelgood factor continued on the pitch.
The home side's chances had been racking up before two goals inside three minutes put them into a 2-0 half-time lead.
Ben Fowkes turned in a spilled shot from Byron Lawrence in the 32nd minute before Billy Hunt's cutback was met at the far post by Noah Collard, whose shot was too powerful for the keeper to keep out.
The second half was less than two minutes old when an unmarked Joe Marsden poked home a third from 10 yards out from Callum Page's half-volley from just outside the box.
Home Goalkeeper Marcus Garnham was soon called into action to tip a cross over and then to make a double save.
The pressure soon told with the second bottom side in the Pitching In Isthmian League South East pulling a goal back in the 55th minute through Tom Tolfrey.
But any hopes of a fightback were killed in the 74th minute when Marsden dispatched a penalty after Fowkes' shot was handled on the goal-line, resulting in a red card for Dean Lovegrove.
Needham went close to extending their lead several times before, in stoppage time, Garnham saved a penalty.
It sees Needham equal their 2018/19 club record run to the first round, before pulling out of the competition and accepting a £2,000 fine for not travelling for a midweek replay at Weymouth. The Marketmen had had to win three matches to reach that stage back then.
At Victory Road it was a far from straight forward progression for Leiston who drew 4-4 with Worthing before winning 4-2 on penalties.
A Liam Jackson double had the hosts in control before Worthing pulled one back on the stroke of half-time.
Leiston restored their two-goal advantage through man-of-the-match Finlay Barnes before the hour mark but the visitors brought it back to 3-2 and then 3-3 with two quickfire goals.
It looked like Darren Eadie's side had got a winner when Barnes struck again in the 82nd minute but Danny Barker found the equaliser in the 88th minute to force a penalty shootout.
Worthing missed the first spotkick with the next five all finding the net. But tellingly, the Isthmian League Premier Division side then failed again, before Barnes held his nerve to send Leiston through.
At Crown Meadow Lowestoft Town saw off Isthmian League Premier Division Lewes 3-1, having led 3-0 until a consolation goal inside the final 10 minutes.
The Trawler Boys were 2-0 up and in full control at half-time thanks to goals at either end of it, from Kieran Higgs and Connor Parsons.
Higgs doubled his tally for a third for the home side in the 54th minute.
It was the same scoreline over at Felixstowe & Walton United who saw off higher-league Metropolitan Police at The Goldstar Ground for a third straight win.
Defender Sam Nunn put the Seasiders into the lead in front of a crowd of 322 in the 14th minute with the hosts then missing a penalty and the Met Police reduced to 10 men before mid-way through the first half.
Tom Cursons brought it back to 1-1 in the 37th minute with the home side's next goal not coming until 16 minutes from time through Nunn again.
The outcome of the tie was sealed in the 80th minute via Henry Barley's well placed free kick.
In the Buildbase FA Vase, it was a 50 per cent success rate for Suffolk's side with two of the four going through to the Second Round and pocketing the £825 prize for the first round proper winners.
Walsham-le-Willows had gone into their home tie with equivalent-level Hoddesdon Town looking to equal their club record run by beating the inaugural Vase winners.
And they did that in emphatic fashion with a 5-1 success that saw young striker Kieran Twinn claim a hat-trick.
The Willows led 2-0 at half-time with Charlie Norman and Twinn on target.
Jamie Smith soon added a third with Twinn scoring twice more, with a consolation goal sandwiched in between.
It was also a comfortable passage through for Mildenhall Town who were 6-0 winners at lower-league Whitlessey Athletic.
The United Counties League Division One side had been forced to play their reserve side due to players isolating as a result of a positive Covid-19 test.
They held out to the 24th minute when Tanner Call made Hall's breakthrough before captain Luke Butcher's 32nd minute header was added to by Ben Nolan's 43rd minute cross being turned in by a defender.
Alex Steed's header made it 4-0 early in the second half before another Nolan cross was turned in for an own goal in the 54th minute.
Centre-back Butcher completed the scoring for Ricky Cornish's side in the 73rd minute.
But it was the end of the road to Wembley for Haverhill Rovers - seeing their losing run continue with a 2-0 defeat at Wellingborough Town - and Ipswich Wanderers - who lost 3-2 at Norwich CBS.
In the Pitching In Isthmian League North Division, AFC Sudbury (took advantage of others being in FA Trophy action to jump from 12th to third in the table with a resounding 5-2 home win against bottom side Witham Town.
Ben Hunter put the Yellows into the lead in the 15th minute before former Bury player Emmanuel Machaya doubled their advantage in the 33rd minute.
They went into the interval 3-0 up after captain Joe Whight added to their total in the 42nd minute.
In front of a crowd of 266, Machaya made it 4-0 in the 53rd minute before former Julian Simon-parson pulled one back for the Essex side 11 minutes from time.
Sudbury striker Freddie King capped a memorable afternoon with a fifth goal right at the end to make it back-to-back wins for Mark Morsley's side, following Tuesday's 1-0 win at Soham.
For Soham Town Rangers it was only a last-minute goal at leaders Tilbury which saw them go down to back-to-back defeats, losing 2-1.
Former Bury player Joe Carden had put The Greens into the lead in the 38th minute but they conceded a penalty on the stroke of half-time from which Brian Moses drew the hosts level.
But Lee Burns' late goal denied them a point to see Robbie Mason's side drop to sixth.
Over at Ram Meadow, Bury Town played out a 2-2 hard-fought draw with Romford to see their perfect start come to an end.
In front of another pandemic restricted 400 capacity crowd, they fell behind early on before Cemal Ramadan's provided the telling touch on Ollie Snaith's 21st minute shot.
Ryan Jolland's excellent strike from the edge of the area in the 79th minute looked like it was going to send them to another league victory.
But they were caught out on the break within two minutes with Malaki Toussaint providing a finish of similar quality, with a draw a fair reflection of the game.
Ben Chenery's side ended the day in fourth place, following the news ahead of kick-off that their abandoned Witham Town match had been awarded to them as the 5-0 scoreline which had stood after 83 minutes of play.
In the Thurlow Nunn League Premier Division, a first half goal from Ryan Harnwell was enough for in-form Ely City to take all three points from their local derby at Newmarket Town 1-0.
Newmarket thought they had an equaliser in the second half when a free kick was bundled home, but it was ruled out for a foul on the goalkeeper.
It was a third straight victory for Luke McAvoy and Ben Farmer's side to conclude an unbeaten October which has ended with the Robins moving three places up the table to fourth.
Newmarket, meanwhile, remain 12th having suffered back-to-back defeats with the result.
Thetford Town remain bottom of the table after conceding a stoppage time goal in a 1-0 home loss to a Brantham Athletic side who stretched their unbeaten start to nine matches.
The Brecklanders had looked on for a very credible point before a 93rd minute free kick was headed into his own new by Mihail Propustins.
Player-manager Matt Morton too to Twitter to say: "Superb effort and performance from my @ThetfordTownFC team today. Every player was at it and delivered the best performance in three games by quite some way.
"Proud of the effort and the organisation, shame about the result but levels like that will get plenty of points going forward."
Meanwhile, a 3-2 win at mid-table Swaffham Town saw Woodbridge Town continue their recent upturn in results to move up to 16th.
After going into the interval at 2-2, it was Taylor Southgate who came up with the all-important next goal with what the club Twitter account described as a 'toe punt'.
The Woodpeckers had to ride out some late pressure to be able to claim the three points, for back-to-back wins.
A number of Step 6 sides were involved in the CNet Training Suffolk Senior Second Round, with Haverhill Borough putting their recent poor league run behind them to knock Coplestonians out 2-1 at The New Croft.
Victor Garcia turned in a Branham Ince corner in the 31st minute for a 1-0 lead at half-time before the recently-returned Matty Harris scored a 75th minute winner following an equaliser.
Second half goals from Jamie Brook, Joe Berry and recently returned youngster Oli Mayhew saw Framlingham Town win 4-0 at Achilles.
But there were exits to lower-league sides from the competition for Cornard United - 3-1 at Henley Athletic - Debenham LC - 8-7 on penalties to hosting Henley Athletic following a 1-1 draw - and Leiston Reserves - 4-3 on penalties at Trimley Red Devils following a 2-2 draw.
In the Thurlow Nunn League First Division North, Lakenheath bounced back from successive league defeats in fine style with a 5-0 home success against mid-table King's Lynn Town Reserves.
John Sands scored on his return to The Pit but also revealed he broke his nose in the match, with Sam Hawley netting a brace and Ryan Phillips and Shaun Avis also getting their names on the scoresheet.
The three welcome points for Ben Cowling's side saw them move two places up the table to fourth.
Meanwhile, Diss Town took the unwanted record of becoming the first side to lose to basement dwellers Wisbech St Mary, ending up on the wrong end of a 4-3 scored in The Fens.
The Tangerines had trailed 3-1 at half-time before James Bemrose pulled one back only for the hosts to restore their two-goal advantage.
Adam Race got them to within one by pulling back a goal in stoppage-time with Michael King's side remaining eighth in the table following a second straight defeat.
Elsewhere, Needham Market Res (14th) lost 3-0 to be leapfrogged by hosting Sheringham.
In the Thurlow Nunn League First Division South, Halstead Town drew 2-2 at home to a winless Harwich & Parkeston side who had started the day bottom of the table.
The point leaves Mark McLean's Halstead only three places and one point off the bottom, having played less games than all but the bottom side May & Baker.
