Having seen promotion snatched away on Saturday, Hadleigh surrendered a two-goal lead to hand victory, admittedly deserved, to their SIL opponents.

Sadly, Hadleigh's form has deserted them at totally the wrong time, and a season that promised a sparkling finish just a month ago has turned to dust.

But the desperate last six days of that season shouldn't disguise the fact that the team, and the club, has made great strides.

The challenge now is for Hadleigh's largely young team to be strengthened by their disappointments, and build further on the strong foundations the club has laid, both on and off the field.

Briefly, just briefly, for the opening 15 minutes on Thursday, Hadleigh looked like the team that had played a lot of fine, flowing football until the last month of the season.

They coasted into a two-goal lead, and it looked so easy. Grundisburgh were rocked back on their heels, and had barely entered Hadleigh's half in that fine opening spell.

All Hadleigh needed to do was to protect that lead for a few minutes. Instead, they enjoyed it for just 90 seconds before a needless penalty gave Grundisburgh a lifeline.

From then on Hadleigh began to struggle. The rare occasional chance apart, they spent much of the rest of the game on the back foot.
And their second half display, apart from a short spell after
Grundisburgh had equalised, was flat-footed and poor.

Kris Rose gave Hadleigh the lead in the tenth minute, his unchallenged glancing header from Pat Fleming's corner giving the team a perfect start and a great lift.

Five minutes later it was two. Chris Dennett crossed to Ross Myhill on the far side of the box, and he turned the ball in for Chris Smith to nudge home from inside the six-yard box.

But Hadleigh scarcely had time to enjoy it, Rose bringing down Tom Parker as he tried to create space for a shot. Robbie Parker scored from the spot, and the momentum inexorably changed.

Fleming, who missed much of the season with a knee injury, was carried off when the knee went again in the 27th minute, forcing a reshuffle as both sides battled for midfield supremacy, with Grundisburgh looking the more menacing.

Luke Whitwell splendidly saved a close-range shot from Tom Parker, who had too easily beaten the defence in the 30th minute. The keeper missed the resulting corner, the ball going in off Jake Kingston.

Grundisburgh's celebrations were swiftly cut off for a far from apparent foul on the keeper. A let-off, and it should have given Hadleigh a lift.

But they were by now starting to rely on breakaways, although this brought two more clear chances in the first half, Myhill shooting wide after beating the offside trap, and Craig Payne shooting at Johnson from a narrow angle after a poor first touch.

From the start of the second half it was virtually all Grundisburgh, who forced corner after corner, and all too easily got around and behind Hadleigh's defence.

Whitwell saved splendidly from Darren Harper, Neil King had a shot blocked, and the keeper did well to hold a stinging shot from Dave Grimwood as Grundisburgh turned the screw without creating too many clear chances.

Their frustration ended in the 71st minute. Rene Swann, who had come on two minutes earlier, saw his speculative shot catch Whitwell out of position

Briefly Hadleigh started to play again, knocking the ball around well, but Grundisburgh soon wrested back the initiative, and it was then a question of whether Hadleigh could hang on for extra time.

The far from unexpected answer came in the last minute of normal time, when Grimwood headed home after a corner had been flicked on.

Hadleigh United: Whitwell; L Smith (Davies 91), Oakes, Fleming (Welton 27), Knott, Rose (Sadler 79), Myhill, Kingston, Payne, C Smith, Dennett. Subs (not used): Goodchild, Woods.

Attendance: 1,014