With an FA Youth Cup tie the following night, none of the regular youth team players were available and this combined with injuries and unavailability meant the reserves had to call on several first team players to fulfil the fixture. It was certainly a very changed line-up with Floyd Croll replacing Sam Mansfield and a back four consisting of four regular first-teamers, only 1 of whom normally played at the back! Perhaps this unfamiliarity led to AFC scoring a goal with their first real attack in only the second minute. However, Melford did not led their heads drop and could have equalised in bizarre fashion when Kenyon closed down Walton on a back pass and the ball rebounded towards goal, flying narrowly wide. The Melford midfield of Bull, Statham, Skeggs, Taylor and Simpson slowly began to take control and get good tackles in. The rest of the first half was keenly contested and resembled a good local derby of the type seen in days gone by. AFC had a goal disallowed for pushing, but we could see the foul from the other end of the ground, but neither keeper was seriously tested.

The second half saw Long Melford come flying out of the traps and several tough challenges went in early on, with AFC frist-teamer Simon Head seeming to be on the end of most of them, and ultimately Dan Statham paid the price with a yellow card. Melford continued to have plenty of possession and found joy down the flanks quite a bit, especially the Brind / Skeggs combination on the left, although most crosses were dealt with by the excellent AFC centre-back pairing of Phil Battell and Matt Stace. Dan Statham suffered cramp and was replaced by Steve Chisholm with Luke Simpson moving to right-back and Liam Cawtheray moving to centre midfield. This proved to be a master-stroke from Dacky, as soon after Kenyon held the ball up and slid a pass to put Cawtheray clean through and he finished past Walton in style with the outside of the boot. AFC pressed for a winner, but the Melford defence held firm with Mark Alder and Matt Wilson both looking rock-solid.