Downham Town 1 – Ipswich Wanderers 3 (FA Cup)

Nick Pope provides us with his match report from this Saturday’s FA Cup tie.

Downham Town 1 Ipswich Wanderers 3

A crowd of 62 saw Wanderers win away at home, with three second half goals securing our progression to the next round of the FA Cup.  This was a reversed fixture as Downham were unable to play at their home ground.

Patrick Brothers made his debut in midfield for Wanderers. Downham were forced into an early change after Gilbert picked up a nasty knock in a 50/50 challenge and it was the Norfolk side who had the better early chances with Derocha firing wide of the target, Wanderers responded and Sims long range effort was well saved by McAnally before the best chance of the first half was created by neat interplay between Sims and Richardson with the former dragging his shot past the post.

The second half saw Wanderers improve on their first half display with O’Neil and Salau coming off the bench and with the midfield in control. Wanderers took the lead on 63 minutes from a Casement free kick, the kick was curled perfectly into the net past the grasp of McAnally. Downham then missed a great chance to level when Edge raced clear of the Wanderers defence, only for Brand to tip his shot past the post. On 81 minutes some good build up allowed Salau to get clean through and he added Wanderers second and on 84 minutes it was 3-0, Kirk picked up the ball and weaved past multiple Downham defenders before shooting low past the advancing McAnally. Downham pulled a goal back on 88 minutes when Sivakumar pounced on a misplaced pass and after initially being denied by Brand, he netted the rebound.

Wanderers now prepare for a home game next Saturday when we host Heybridge Swifts (kick off 3pm) as we look to build on the promising start to the campaign.

Ipswich Wanderers: Brand, Madley, Kincaid (Adeniji 72) Brothers (Kirk 67), Casement, Rose, Barker, Fernandes (O’Neill 51) Richardson (Pedro 67), Fletcher (Salau 59), Sims

Unused subs; Cobblah, Forrest