The Lilywhites kicked off the 2024/25 FA Cup campaign with an impressive 5-1 win over Lakenheath FC.

City dominated possession throughout the game but it a stubborn Lakenheath defended well for the first quarter of an hour. On 16 minutes Aaron Greene was put through one on one with George Whitehall in the Lakenheath goal and the City hitman made no mistake slotting the ball past the on-rushing keeper for a deserved lead.

City continued to press forward, Junior Mubiayi coming close with a side-footed effort that cleared the bar. George Smith was a constant threat and when he was through on goal, Whitehall made an excellent save with his feet only to see the ball fall kindly for Giani Ashley who smashed the ball home from close range on the stroke of half time.

Any thoughts of cruising through the second half were dashed just 2 mins after the restart, Ethan Flack's long range effort found the top corner and Lakenheath were momentarily back in the game, however, the longer the game went on the more City began to take control as their fitness and class began to show.

Greene made it 3 -1 on 56 minutes with a replica of his first goal before the tireless George Smith got in on the action. A melee in the box, resulted in a good save and a clearance on the line before the ball dropped to the feet of Smith who tucked away the fourth from close range.

Shane Temple, who had earlier replaced Joel Older was terrorising the Lakenheath defence and when he headed back across goal from a deep cross, he found the head of Smith who tucked the ball away to round off the scoring and complete the victory.

Cureton made several changes in the second half including a debut for Danny Norton and a 1st team competitive debut for U18 star Charlie Coxall who has impressed in pre-season.

A great performance from the team, and we look forward to starting our league campaign next weekend, quickly followed by a trip to Great Yarmouth for the next round of the cup