A COMBINATION of third time lucky, going a goal behind and a green and black kit saw Haughley United win the Bob Coleman Cup on Saturday.

Delighted Haughley manager Phil Fairbrother said: “This was my third final and I lost the other two. I think we deserved to win it because we played some lovely football.”

Fairbrother said he was not surprised that his side, who fell behind after just three minutes, were under the cosh from the kick-off.

“I knew they would bomb us and put us under a lot of pressure early on, and they could have been out of sight by half time. My two centre halves (Robbie Grover and Dan Lucas) were shellshocked in the first 20 minutes, but they were immense after that.

“Achilles don’t play with a lot of width and once our strikers, Simmo (Craig Simpson) and Nathan Smith, got the ball down on the ground we wore them down and ran them ragged.

“After we equalised half time came too soon for us because we had found our rhythm. On the balance of play they had more chances, but we played more open football.”

Fairbrother said that the final had followed a similar pattern to each of the five matches Haughley, whose first-choice kit is black and white stripes, have played in this season’s competition.

“We have found ourselves a goal down in every match, but we were wearing our lucky green and black kit that we have worn in every round!”