Manager Terry Hovell paid tribute to his side’s defensive display after Stowmarket Town won this season’s Suffolk FA Senior Reserve Cup sponsored by Days Sports.

A Ben Hovell penalty and superb Danny Lines strike saw Stowmarket win 2-1 against Woodbridge Town, whose reply came via Josh Hitter, in Thursday night’s final at Colchester United FC.

Hovell said: “We were the underdogs as they had beaten us twice in the league and finished second while we were fourth, but we had a couple of players back which made a difference.

“The way they play they are a better team than us, but we dug in and hit them on the break twice, first with the penalty and then a great goal. It was a shame to concede when we did and come in at half-time at 2-1, rather than 2-0.

“I said to them at half-time that if we don’t concede again we will win the cup, and we defended well. We got good headers in and our keeper made a great save when he needed to from a header, but otherwise they huffed and puffed but couldn’t blow our house down.

“It was a great occasion for the players to play on a really good pitch and Colchester United have made us feel really welcome.”

Woodbridge Town Manager Karl Pike said: “We hit the post just before they scored and then within two minutes we found ourselves two goals down and had our backs-against-the-wall until we scored just before half-time.

“In the second-half we threw everything at them, but they got men behind the ball and defended well and we could not break them down, and we could have conceded on the break. We had a couple of chances but it didn’t quite happen for us and we didn’t work their keeper.

“Our Under-18s played 90 minutes in a semi-final on Monday night, and they made up 80 per cent of the side tonight along with three Under-16s. I can’t fault the effort of my players, but it has been a long season for the boys.”