IPSWICH Wanderers manager Glenn Read could be forgiven for feeling despondent after seeing his side lose a cup semi-final on a penalty shoot-out.

Wanderers bowed out of the Thurlow Nunn League Division One KO Cup 4-2 on penalties, after a goalless draw at Great Yarmouth last Saturday.

But they bounced back to beat rivals Whitton United 1-0 on Easter Monday and then won 2-0 at second-placed Cambridge University Press on Wednesday.

That made it nine games – six wins and three draws – since Wanderers last lost in the league.

Read, whose side missed out on the chance of facing Brightlingsea Regent in the final, summed up the semi-final exit as a case of missed chances.

He said: “We had enough chances to win the game and even their manager said he didn’t know how they went through, but it went to penalties and we all know they are a lottery.

“Brightlingsea have turned us over twice in the league and it would have been nice to play them in the final and do better than we did in the league against them.”

Wanderers’ disappointment was eased with Monday’s win, courtesy of Luke Read’s second-half goal, at home to Whitton, who they will meet in the LB Group Suffolk Senior Cup final on May 8.

“They probably shaded the first-half, but we played better in the second half and I thought we deserved to win in the end,” said Read.

Goals from James Heathcote and Ross Myhill saw Wanderers move above Fakenham Town into fifth place, although Read admitted that promotion was beyond their grasp.

Read said: “That was the best we have played for a while and it was a great result for us.

“There is too big a gap between us and the top three. I don’t think we can catch them, but if we can finish fourth that would be a great achievement for us.

“We have only lost one game away from home all season and that was at Brightlingsea.

But we have drawn too many games and that has cost us any chance of promotion.”

Wanderers today entertain basement side Cornard United, who have still yet to pick up a point this season and have gone a total of 43 matches without a win.

Read said he was wary of facing Cornard: “It is more difficult in some respects because you just never know.

“We have a couple of injuries and will try to give goalkeeper Aaron Reid a game so that he is ready if anything happens to Jamie Stannard.”