AFTER seeing his side reach the Suffolk Senior Cup final at Portman Road for the second successive season Whitton United boss Ian Brown declared: “I must be the proudest manager ever.”

A beaming Brown said: “It is a tremendous achievement for these boys, who have been through the mill but have shown great character.

“It is tough on Grundisburgh who gave us a good game, but in the second half we had chances to score more than just the one goal.

“They had a very good chance just before half time, but Darren Moyes made a crucial save which won the game for us.

“Kris Nita has not been well this week, and when Josh (Brown) came on at half time he changed the game with his subtle touches and through balls. He gave Kevin Inglis more space to get on the ball.

“We all know Kevin Inglis is a good player – he has a lot of ability and is cool and calm on the ball – he just needs to do it every week.”

Looking ahead Brown said: “We have got many cup finals to play between now and the end of the season as we are in the promotion race as well as facing Long Melford in the final.”

Man-of-the-match Kevin Inglis said: “It was a scrappy first half. It took us a while to settle down, but once we got in front we didn’t look back and could have scored more goals, to be honest.

“Today was not about the performance, it was about the result and getting back to Portman Road to try to retain the trophy. I thought the boys worked hard and deserved it.

“Cup competitions can be a distraction, but now this game is out of the way we can now concentrate on the league.”

Joint Grundisburgh manager Kevin Cunningham said: “I am disappointed as we didn’t play well today. We didn’t get the ball down and play from the back as we like to and, as a result, we didn’t do ourselves credit.

“I have been involved in enough semi-finals to know they are not often classic matches. We had the best chance of the game in the first half and if that had gone in it would have been a different ball game.

“Was it a penalty? I don’t know. It looked a bit harsh and it was certainly a soft one to give away.”

Cunningham, a former Whitton player who also managed the club for three years and still runs their veterans’ side, added: “Good luck to Whitton United. I hope they go on and win it, bearing in mind my involvement with the club over the years.

“We have now got to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves down and make sure we recover from this and try to win the league.”