No Payne, No Gain: Lacklustre Hadleigh succumb to former striker

The smiles are back on the players faces following a magnificent Vase victory for Stow at Premier Division Hadleigh and nobody had a broader grin than striker Craig Payne whose second half brace condemned his former club to an early cup exit. Defending against the wind in the first period centre backs James Graham and Dean Pleasance dealt with everything the home side threw at them and on the rare occasion when Hadleigh created an opening Kevin Bugg produced a fine save to deny Ben Deacon. As the half drew to a close keeper Louis Johnson was finally called into action going full length to turn aside Will Brown's effort. Three minutes after the interval Stow broke the deadlock with a measured approach that had been lacking from the home side's hurried long ball tactics in the first forty five minutes, Wayne Proctor with an astute diagonal pass found Will Brown who looked up and picked out CRAIG PAYNE at the far post; the striker gleefully planting a header beyond Johnson. Payne could have doubled the advantage just failing to get sufficient contact on Proctor's cross and the hard working Proctor tried an audacious chip from half way, such was the confidence spreading through the visitors. Stow still had to defend, Pleasance made a vital tackle and an alert Bugg palmed Callum Smith's shot onto the bar. With four minutes remaining the home side's indiscipline cost them dearly as Liam Jennings received a red card for comments made to the referee. Almost immediately Stow profitted from the extra man with Proctor releasing CRAIG PAYNE to finish calmly. Proctor was denied a third that his workrate deserved after seeing his shot bounce down off the bar and away to safety. There was still late drama deep into injury time; OLIVER CANFER heading in Luke Read's free kick before limping off to leave Hadleigh with nine men. It mattered little for straight from the kick off WILL BROWN just inside the Hadleigh half spotted Johnson off his line and sent a shot arrowing into the net via the underside of the bar for a goal not just of this season but of any season. The final whistle brought scenes of jubilation and news of a home tie against Walsham in the next round.

Not having watched Hadleigh this season as I like to "ground hop " a bit , I decided to take in this match to see how ex Hadleigh manager Steve Jay's team would fair against his old club. With Stow on bit of a back foot so far this season & Hadleigh's season not off to the best of starts I thought an interesting contest would ensue. Steve Jay looked to have fired up his players no more than Craig Payne ( looking to get one back on his old club ) but it turned out he got two well taken goals against Hadleigh in their 3-1 win. For Hadleigh playing one up front in the form of Ben Deacon this was going to be a hard task for the Hadleigh player as Stow's defence worked hard and seemed more positive than they did when i watched them play Whitton the other Wednesday night. So a good first win this season for Stow ( this win will probably now kick start their season ) for Hadleigh ( with several injured players ) it must now be back to the drawing board to bring in players either via 7day approaches or on loan, but as the season is this young and my recent question on this forum re player movements are players prepared to move at present now in Hadleigh's case they are out of both F.A Competitions , this would also go for other teams as this early there is now not much to play for other than to try a Cup run in County & league Competitions

I thought both sides looked poor today, but Stowmarket took their chances. If either are to stand any chance of doing well in their Leagues they will need to play far better than they did today.
I was just amazed at the support Craig Payne got from the Hadleigh Supporters, not just during but after the match as well.
He seemed to rather enjoy his return to The Millfield.
Think his OLD MAN seemed fairly pleased as well, he must have kissed nearly every female in the ground at the end.

ATTENDANCE 101
I would say there looked far more than that in there today!

It was certainly a different Hadleigh that turned up than the one that played so well at Woodbridge, it will be interesting to see what the next few games has in store.