Bury Town boss Richard Wilkins hailed winger Jordan Patrick after the Suffolk Premier Cup holders booked their place in the final once again with a 2-1 win over Leiston, at AFC Sudbury last night.

Patrick has been struggling with an ankle injury and, at one point, had looked a doubt for the game. But he scored a stunning long-range goal to crucially double his side’s advantage at the MEL Group Stadium.

Substitute Ryan Taylor, who replaced the injured Danny Cunningham (Achilles) early in the game, had fired Bury into a 1-0 interval lead with a goal on the stroke of half-time.

And although Craig Parker headed in late on for Leiston, Wilkins’ men survived and, in doing so, defeated Steve Ball’s men for the third season on the trot at the semi-final stage of the competition.

Bury will now face the winners of tonight’s game between Needham Market or Felixstowe & Walton, in the final at Portman Road.

“Jordan is capable of that although it was a massive gamble to play him,” admitted Wilkins. “He was going to have an x-ray on his ankle last week as it was not getting any better, but over the last four or five days it’s really come on.

“He’s done some running and some twisting and turning and said it was sore but it was really a no -brainer playing him.

“I wanted to get my most experienced players on the pitch. While he has not played for five or six weeks, I thought he did really well tonight. The goal was unbelievable. He has scored two like that this year and it was worthy of winning any semi-final.”

As for young goalscorer Taylor, Wilkins added: “It was a good game for him to come on to. Starting Jordan worked well and sticking Ryan (Taylor) on after 15-20 minutes obviously worked well. Sometimes it works for you, sometimes it doesn’t.”

Bury look out of contention for the play-offs in the Ryman League Premier Division, being 11 points adrift of fifth-placed AFC Hornchurch, and Wilkins explained it was important his team kept their season alive.

“We have done really well the last three years, we have got to the final three times and won it twice,” he said.

“It’s something the club looks forward to, we don’t take the competition lightly and we beat Lowestoft earlier in the season, 4-0, which was an excellent result.

“To win tonight and to beat two teams in the same division who are above us in this cup shows great character from my team.

“My two centre-halves were immense and I thought we deserved to win the game.”