SUDBURY Sports manager Craig Power says his side will ‘play without fear’ in Tuesday’s 2019-20 Total Football Suffolk Junior Cup Final.

Power’s young team face Halesworth Town, who will be appearing in their first Junior Cup Final for more than 30 years, in Tuesday’s showpiece occasion at Walsham-le-Willows FC, kick-off 7.30pm.

Power said: “Our club has a brief history and this will be our first cup final appearance. We are very close-knit group of players and staff and reaching the cup final has created a real buzz around the group with every player contributing to reaching the final. 

“Halesworth are a club clearly on an upwards trajectory with promotions over the past few seasons and have settled into Step 7 football well. We must respect what they have achieved; however we will play without fear on the evening.

“I believe in every round we have been the underdogs due to being a younger side. This was shown with being underdogs against Grundisburgh, Wickham Market, Barham and Sporting.

“The only game on paper we have started favourites was in the semi-final against Bramford Road Old Boys due to playing in a higher division.”

With several players dual registered with AFC Sudbury, who have a league fixture on Tuesday evening, Power said he will be involved in discussions with their manager Mark Morsley to see who is available before finalising his squad. 

Sudbury Sports (blue shirts) are pictured above scoring one of their goals in their 9-0 semi-final victory over Bramford Road Old Boys (yellow shirts) at Brantham Athletic FC. Photograph: Steve Screech.

Their opponents Halesworth Town are now playing in the Senior Division of the Macron SIL after back-to-back promotions.

Manager Carl Chenery said everyone at the club was looking forward to their first final appearance since losing 1-0 to Walsham-le-Willows in the 1989-90 season.

He said: “The players should take a huge amount of credit as they have built up the club’s profile tremendously in the last two seasons.

“The spirit within our club and achievements on the pitch has seen a real surge in numbers coming back to support the club.

“We consistently hit over 100 fans for home games and we have a loyal away following. Hopefully we will be taking several again for the final on Tuesday night.”

“We hope we can hit a good level of performance Tuesday night and give our supporters something to cheer about it.

“As a manager you hope the players play to their capabilities on the night; we’ve started the league season very well after a great pre-season and the players have been outstanding in the league so far. I’m very proud of the players that we’ve managed to assemble at the club.

“Coaches Tim Sparkes and Carl Vincent are held in very high regard around the club and are a big part of our success since joining the club over two years ago when the first team were playing in SIL Division Two.

Stuart Tompkins may miss the match due to work and Toby Chenery is ruled out with a knee injury suffered in pre-season, but Halesworth are hopeful Calvin Vincent can return after missing five weeks with an ankle injury.

Chenery added: “It looks like it’s going to be a tough game for us on Tuesday night, as both teams have been used to winning games.

“We will be playing against a very well-organised and young side with plenty of potential. They had a big win in the semi-final but it’s going to be down to who performs on the night.

“A Suffolk Junior Cup win would be a great way for either team to start their season.”

To purchase tickets for the final or indeed for any of the other 2019-20 county cup finals still to be played click here