Just when you thought it was safe to write AFC off from any cup shenanigans this year they go and turn up in deepest, darkest Kent. That's where they had been hiding all along.
A week ago was the Brentwood debacle, then we gift away progress in the Suffolk Cup to Hadleigh during the week, but this Saturday we saw the real AFC turn it on after a slow start to take apart a decent Vickers side who are doing well in their own league.
So after the team bus had taken a wrong turn that led to a width restriction that unless we gunned it in the coach and risked life and limb, we weren't really going to get through. After the local inhabitants came out to watch the mighty AFC coach turn around and try another way. The rain pouring down. The sky dark and moody. After all this we found peak Sudburyness.
A goal down early on as we sleepily and tentatively began a game it looked like we didn't really fancy much. Another gloomy bloody away day. I trudged the touch line with my camera trying to find the light in every sense.
As the half progressed we began to find our way, began to string passages of play together, began to probe more and more at the Vickers back line. Half chances came and went. Tom Maycock was beginning to be a thorn in the VCD side, Marks was the immoveable object, the target man starting to get some decent service for once, the others, Hunter, Maycock, Harris feeding off of him. The Ben Hammett that I have seen playing for the academy set up started to do his thang for the first time in the senior set up. The lad has been a shadow of the player that we all know is there but today the real Ben Hammett arrived. Tenacious and mobile. After 36 minutes we drew level. A corner from the right lofted deep to the back of the box and the big man, Bailey-Dennis looped a header back across goal and inside the post. Hello! what's going on here, we're right in this. We looked the better team by now. We were buzzing, passing quickly and efficiently without over complicating. We used the channels well with Maycock and Harris both running deep and stretching VCD.
On the stroke of half time, Sean Marks is up ended on the edge of the box, to the right of their goal. Joe Whight stands over the ball and attempts to curl it around the wall. The ball flicks the edge of the wall and completely wrong foots the keeper for his first goal of the season. 2-1 AFC at the break. Doo doo doot dit doo.. i'm lovin it!
VCD were always going to come out all guns blazing after the break. Well that's what it says here on the script at least.. but instead we continue to boss proceedings. Sean Marks is upended running into the box and we've got a penalty. Sean didn't fancy it but Tom Maycock did and with no bother at all he sent the keeper the wrong way and stuck home his 9th goal of the season. Good going for mid October. VCD huffed, VCD puffed, but VCD couldn't blow our house down.. or even get the ball past Paul Walker who had a quieter afternoon than expected. In the second period his only really noteworthy call to action was when he superbly caught a stinging high drive. Not easy with the ball so wet. We polished off a superb performance a couple of minutes from time when Marks got reward for a classic target man performance with for me the goal of the game. Heading home Hunter's cross from the left, under pressure, guiding the ball over and past the keeper to secure a place in the next round of the F.A Trophy.
The only dampener on proceedings was the jubilant players were denied tunes but the coach driver on the way home. Every silver lining clearly has a cloud