Lakenheath FC smashing it at the end of summer.
A superb period for us at the moment, as we come to the conclusion of this month with an air of optimism, quite possibly a thick fog of it.
On Tuesday the 13th we visited Ely, a local derby for us that is always feisty and close, made more feisty after we signed one of their best players Luke Young in the summer, becoming ever so unpopular with Ely’s fanbase. We began the game extremely well, with Tom Debenham crashing into the ball at the back post to bundle it in, and then the new enemy of Ely Luke Young went down in the box, and Shaun Avis converted the resulting penalty of course.
We ended up winning the game 6-0, a complete shock in Cambridgeshire as Luke delivered us 3 assists and 2 goals. A complete performance and a galvanizing masterclass.
Luke Young, Casey Phillips, Sam Hawley, Tom Debenham, Josh Wells and Ryan Yallop all celebrate Lakenheath’s 4th goal against Ely.
Next, we welcomed Long Melford on Saturday to Lakenheath in the afternoon. Melford came to us having been very competitive against some of the top teams of the league so far. I filled out the team sheet and sat down with the officials in their dressing room as we agreed to do a minute’s silence after the Queen passed away a few days previously - and with that we were underway to a crowd of 125.
We started very poorly, we were very slow on second balls and Long Melford were raining fire on our goal, yet so far to no avail. Our manager made a big call, substituting forward Tom Thulborn on for wing-back Dan Olive. We were forced to do this as we were being overrun in our 3-5-2, so we switched to a 4-3-3.
Within 10 minutes of this change, our goalkeeper Charlie Beckwith put in an absolutely beautiful long ball over the top to substitute Tom Thulborn, who converted very calmly with a brilliant first touch and shot.
Shaun Avis celebrates scoring his 100th goal for Lakenheath against Long Melford (H).
Shaun Avis then added to our tally by scoring his 100th goal for the club in 3 years. An incredible achievement for such a brilliant player I’ve known personally for a long time. He has scored so many important goals for us in those 3 years and to join the 100 club is a great thing for Avo.
Melford received quite possibly the silliest second yellow card to go down to 10 men I’ve ever seen. We won a penalty in the 55th minute, and one of the Melford players kicked up the penalty spot right in front of the referee to try and scuff up the incoming penalty by Avis.
The referee sent off the Melford player and furthermore Avis dispatched the penalty beautifully into the bottom corner. Tommy added our fourth and the job was all but done, meaning we’ve scored 10 in a week, and 0 conceded. A contrast to the previous week in which we lost another local derby against Thetford 4-2…
In terms of my actual role, I’m starting to get very much used to all the administration stuff – however mistakes are still creeping through. I missed reporting one of our reserves results and starting 11. We were fined by the Cambridgeshire FA, which was a bit of a silly error to make. I certainly kicked myself, costing the club a fine!
The manager and I hold up sub boards to indicate a substitution against Long Melford.
Recently, Mulbarton got kicked out of the FA Cup for playing an ineligible player. I can only imagine how their secretary must feel at the moment - and I can only speak for myself when I say I very much hope not to make a mistake on that magnitude.
We have received a few approaches for players this month, as well as sending out Emmanuel Machaya on a loan deal to Thetford Town for 12 weeks, with a view of making this move permanent. Manny has scored 3 times in 2 games for Thetford since he joined them and we wished him best for the future. I’m personally still getting used to seeing players leaving and joining so often, but it’s something that has to be done sometimes.
Looking ahead, we have a tough game against Hadleigh coming up, after they beat Ipswich Wanderers at the weekend - a big result for them, and they will come into the game with bags of confidence that we must confide in ourselves to overcome.
Within the next few weeks, we will finally enter the FA Vase after getting a bye all the way to the second round following our superb run last season. Looking forward to the draw!
Here’s to another important and great next few weeks for Heath as we look to climb up the Thurlow Nunn Premier Division table and conquer Step 5 of English football.
Shaun Avis and Lakenheath fans pose for a picture ahead of Rugby Town away in Warwickshire for the F.A. Vase Fourth Round
