Long Melford players relished the challenge of two games in 48 hours, says manager Jamie Bradbury

Jamie Bradbury says his Long Melford players relished the challenge of two games in 48 hours last week, with wins against Southend Manor and Ely City kick-starting their 2019/20 campaign, writes Alex Moss.

The Villagers had opened their Thurlow Nunn League Premier Division fixtures with heavy defeats to Woodbridge Town (4-0) and Newmarket Town (4-1), before playing out a goalless draw away at Southend in the Emirates FA Cup extra preliminary round.

Bradbury’s men fought back from 2-0 and 3-2 down in the replay at Stoneylands, on Wednesday last week, with goalkeeper Ben Devlin the hero in the penalty shootout to set up a home clash with Colney Heath in the preliminary round this Saturday (3pm).

And Melford will go into the tie, which is worth £2,890 to the winners, in even greater spirits, after winning 2-1 at Ely last Friday to claim their first league points of the season.

“It was a good couple of days for the boys,” Melford boss Bradbury, whose side were thumped 9-1 at home by Stanway Rovers last night, said.

“They relished the challenge that was put on their plate, in terms of playing two midweek games.

“It was not so much the 48 hour gap between them, which shouldn’t happen at this time of the season, but it was expecting them to leave work early for the two games.

“Everyone made it on time and we’ve got a strong squad, so we were able to rotate for both the games.

“I missed the first two games as I was away on holiday, but the reports I got back were that we didn’t perform well.
“We’d put in some really good performances during pre-season, but we just slipped off from that, so it was good to see the boys spark again last week.”

Jamie Griffiths and Callum Hemson both struck to help Melford recover from 2-0 down against Southend, before Hassan Ally’s 79th-minute strike forced extra time.

Two days later, a goal in each half from Ben Judge and Griffiths steered the Villagers to a 2-1 win at Ely.

Melford will host Premier Division rivals Stowmarket Town in the second round of the Turners Hyundai Suffolk Premier Cup on Wednesday, October 9.