10/12/2025 – REPORT – ACORN CHARITY INVITATION SHIELD – 2024/2025.

ACORN CHARITY INVITATION SHIELD – 2024/2025.

WORMINGFORD WANDERERS FC.               4.         BOXFORD ROVERS FC.                      1.

Date:   10/12/2025.                                      Venue: Stoneylands, home of Long Melford FC.

ACORN VILLAGE            –           People First, Disability Second.

Everyone deserves independence, dignity and life fulfilment. Acorn Village is a registered charity for adults with learning disabilities, now in its 50^th year.

Our philosophy is people first, disability second.

Acorn Village offers a home to adults with learning disabilities as well as a support network. Horse-riding, sailing, swimming and college are some of the weekly external activities offered whilst art, craft, weaving, drama, media studies, gardening, up-cycling and recycling are just some of the onsite activities giving self-belief and a sense of real achievement for all.

Our motto since day one has been “life is for living”, it is thanks to generous supporters that we can continue to live up to this.

A huge THANK YOU for all of your support and for the amount of money raised over the years, we could’nt do it without you.

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            After the original final date in late November had to be postponed because of the weather, the long-awaited Acorn Charity Invitation Shield final for Season 2024 / 2025, was played out under the floodlights at Long Melford FC, this time the pitch looked in good condition, albeit a bit heavy and a decent crowd had assembled, the competition thanked Long Melford FC for allowing the use of their excellent facilities on Wednesday evening.

            Teams from Wormingford Wanderers FC have appeared in twelve previous finals, winning four and they were runners-up eight times, for Boxford Rovers this was their first appearance, lets hope the match lives up to expectations and everyone gives one hundred percent and to spectators who have paid admittance which goes to this registered charity, Thank you everyone who has also donated money.

            Today’s Match Officials, appointed by the ESBFL were referee Stuart Franklin who was assisted by Jake Jenner and Regan Clift with Michael Wallace as 4^th Official.

            Boxford Rovers pushed forward in the opening minutes, but Wormingford Wanderers regained control and forced an early corner, taken by Barnett but comfortably held by keeper, Woods, his early clearance put the Wormingford Wanderers tall defence under pressure, firstly, Mortlock headed clear, then Watts volleyed another clearance into touch. Boxford Rovers took an early lead, an attack foundered just inside the penalty area, whether keeper, Haygreen lost sight of the ball in the floodlights or because there were so many bodies in the way, he was beaten at his near post by HAYDEN BULLOCK. Buoyed by his goal, Bullock set off, after another long through ball, beating Watts for pace, but his cross was easily field by keeper, Haygreen. In these opening minutes, Boxford Rovers were quicker to the ball and into any tackle but Wormingford Wanderers managed their first shot on ten minutes, from twenty-five yards, this was from Moss, but failed to trouble keeper, Woods, who was soon required to advance out of his penalty area to clear out for a throw-in as Foley threatened. Wormingford Wanderers forced another corner, taken by Barnett, the ball was cleared by Tatum but only to Moss whose shot hit keeper, Woods. A deep cross from Moss went out of play on the far side, from the throw-in Green was sent away by Pearce, another low driven cross followed but Wormingford retained possession to walk the ball out of defence.

            Wormingford Wanderers had already adopted a long ball approach, somewhat predictable given the pace of their forwards, Boxford Rovers were content to sit deep in defence where Addison and Tatum looked assured, the latter player confidently brought the ball out of his defence before misplacing his pass intended for Montgomery down the left side. Keeper, Woods, was once again striding out of his penalty area to meet the ball just as it fell to Barton, who was through on goal, that was a big tackle, had to be right orthe consequences, dire! Salt was driving his team forward from midfield, a fine pass forward fell to Evans who beat three or four players running from the half-way line, Aldworth stopped that attack with a solid tackle. Forward, Montgomery, for Boxford Rovers always seem to be able to find space and when given a opportunity to shoot, he did so, from outside the penalty area, forcing keeper, Haygreen to tip the dipping ball over the crossbar for a corner. From the resulting corner, taken by Green, Tatum rose to head the ball upwards and with no challenge coming in, Tatum volleyed the ball just over the crossbar. Tatum was then guilty of a foul on Barton inside the centre-circle, a cross from Ruffell flew straight to keeper, Woods, who was then injured as he advanced to tackle Barton, who had again got behind the Boxford Rovers defence.

            On thirty minutes, Montgomery, evaded three tackles, but a fine interception by Watts stopped that attack, his opposite number, Tatum did the same when Barton almost worked his way through, so far, Tatum had stood out, not just because of his height, he won all the high balls, but his timing in tackles had also been spot on. Bullock dived into a tackle on Aldworth, who was not impressed, again Tatum cleared the ball forward to Montgomery who sent a long curling cross towards Bullock who failed to control the ball and a goal kick followed. As we approached half-time, Boxford Rovers had seen more possession, defended well, and created the better chances, but only took the first one presented, fair play to the players though as both teams were evenly matched. On forty-two minutes, Boxford Rovers had to replace Bagrie with Matthews, from the restart, Evans put Montgomery through, but with only the keeper to beat, he placed the ball wide of the far post, a big miss.

HALF-TIME:    0 – 1.

            Wormingford Wanderers were quickly out for the second half, they need to create and score, thus far the Boxford Rovers defence had played well, Clifford sent a low shot across the penalty area for a goal kick. Pearce was guilty of a push on Foley, Bradley took the free-kick, a bit of an up-and-under approach, the ball fell to Moss who shot wide in the crowded goal mouth. Moss fouled Matthews, inside the centre-circle, Mortlock hammered the ball away for a corner from the free kick taken by Green. Green also took the corner, finding Tatum but Wormingford Wanderers cleared up field, Bradley sent over a cross which found Moss running down the left side, Ennis-Hadley intercepted and sent the ball down his left side to Montgomery who blazed the ball over the crossbar, seemingly Boxford Rovers wanted more goals and Salt was engineering things through midfield alongside Evans. A turning point in this game came when Pearce was tackled by Foley, no foul was given, despite Pearce requiring treatment for a knock to his head, Addison showed dissent towards the match official for his team not getting a foul, a yellow card followed and Addison left the field for ten minutes in the “Sin-Bin”, then a free kick from Barnett cleared everyone inside the penalty area with keeper, Woods totally missing his attempt to punch the ball clear.

            On the hour mark, Boxford Rovers took off the injured Pearce and sent on Weller, Montgomery again used his pace against Ruffell, and the ball went out of play, whereupon Wormingford Wanderers introduced Clifford. From the restart, Boxford Rovers were caught out, Tatum mistimed his challenge on Foley and was shown a yellow card, from the free kick, a goalmouth melee followed, this allowed ROSS ALDWORTH to smash home the loose ball at the far post to level the scores. Addison rejoined the match after his ten-minute rest, but on seventy minutes Wormingford Wanderers took the lead, Aldworth sent in a left-footed cross from the left side, keeper, Woods, was seemingly caught in two minds and only managed to fumble the ball into the path of JACK CLIFFORD who scored into an empty net. On seventy minutes Boxford Rovers made two more changes, off went Green and Evans who were replaced by Hazell and Chapman, Montgomery was put through by Salt but keeper, Haygreen was quickly out to save.

            As we entered the last fifteen minutes Boxford Rovers took Salt off and Prentice entered play, whether these late changes affected the teams shape was unclear, but the unmarked WILL FOLEY scored, slotting home from a cross by Moss. As Wormingford Wanderers pushed forward again, Barton forced a fine save from keeper, Woods, who dived at full stretch, then with one goal to his name already WILL FOLEY added a second when he was given the freedom to run through and beat the stranded keeper. With seven minutes remaining, Wormingford Wanderers made another change, off went Foley and on went Cosgrove, Watts fouled Montgomery and Mortlock was shown a yellow card for delaying the restart by kicking the ball away. The frustrated, Ennis-Hadley pushed Clifford inside the centre-circle but the free kick launched by Watts was straight to keeper, Woods and with virtually the last move of the match, Tatum burst forward, Barnett stepped across, only to be pushed away by Tatum who ran on and kicked the ball away this after the whistle had been blown, a second yellow card was shown followed by a red card which saw the defender dismissed, seemingly to much amusement from the Boxford Rovers supporters and they were there in force.

FULL TIME:     4 – 1.

            A game of two halves was the verdict from most people standing around me, both teams were committed on the night, the scoreline looks harsh but when you have opportunities to score you must take them, Boxford Rovers did not, but Wormingford Wanderers with a better second half performance did so.

            Competition Treasurer, Brian Rowe, gave a short speech reflecting on the history of this charity competition and made special note to those who had started the competition many years ago, there were also two representatives from the Acorn Village in attendance on the night, one, the was the granddaughter of the late, Ken Salmon whose dedication to Acorn Village and to grassroots football is remembered well.

The match officials were presented with mementos, Boxford Rovers FC, as the losing team, were presented with the Runners-Up Shield, (the Ken Salmon and Charlie Hewitt Shield) and Wormingford Wanders FC were presented with the Winners Shield, (the Alf Banner Shield).

Turning to my choice of Star player, well it’s not my choice as there was an independent ECFA official in attendance, he chose Will Foley, but then you can’t argue with two goals during a fine second half display by his team.

Teams:

WORMINGFORD WANDERERS FC:

Colours:                        Blue & White Shirts, Navy Shorts and Blue & White Socks.

Team:

Alfie Haygreen., Ross Aldworth., Sam Mortlock., Daniel Watts., Jake Ruffell., Daniel Bradley., Jack Allen., Sam Moss., Joel Barton., Jamie Barnett., Will Foley.

Management:               Mark Norman & Rob Fitzpatrick.

Used Substitutes:          Ben Cosgrove., Jack Clifford., Luke Kent.

Unused Substitutes:      Zsombor Papp., Lewi Davis.

BOXFORD ROVERS FC          

Colours:                        White Shirt with Red Sash Shirts, Black Shorts and Red Socks.

Team:

Nathan Woods., Adam Green., Anthony Pearce (C)., Ben Ttatum., Robert Addison., Joshua Evans., Cody Ennis-Hadley., Freddie Bagrie., Oliver Salt., Jack Montgomery., Hayden Bullock.

Management:               Richard Robinson & Jack Prentice.

Used Substitutes:          Liam Hazell., William Weller., Darren Chapman., Jamie Matthews.

MATCH OFFICIALS:

Referee:                       Stuart Franklin.

Assistant Referees:       Jake Jenner.

                        and      Regan Clift.

4^th Official:                    Michael Wallace.

STAR PLAYER:            William FOLEY                        (WORMINGFORD WANDERERS FC)