The nature in which his side conceded some of the goals irked him a little, but overall manager Liam Abraham was proud of the way in which his Framlingham Town players acquitted themselves during Tuesday evening’s meeting with Ipswich Town Under-18s.

The youthful Tractor Boys won the second round CNet Training Suffolk Senior Cup tie 5-1, but that does not tell the whole story, one in which the hosts almost took a shock lead, gave their opponents a scare and stuck to the task in hand – even when bodies and minds started to tire.

Ipswich were two goals to the good at the break before the hosting Castlemen halved the deficit three minutes into the second half.

Yet, Ipswich restored their two-goal advantage soon after and what followed was a period of domination from players hoping to one day to turn professional, and they helped themselves to a couple more goals late on to ease into the quarter-finals.

Abraham said: “For large parts of the first half we did well but we caused our own problems with the first goal and that hurt us.

“We had worked really hard and then got punished for over-playing. In a way we do not want to criticise because it is great they want to play that way, but there is a time and a place.

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BF-03-12-2019-001-GD Framlingham No 10 Mason Ransome shoots and hits the crossbar from 20 yards out. (23336389)

“To be fair we got a reaction at half-time and scored quite early, but the third goal was soft at a crucial time.

“From there, at 3-1 down, it is really hard to go again. The legs are getting tired and chasing becomes hard – it is much easier to chase when you are just a goal behind, but our lads do deserve credit because they kept going.

“We had some young lads out there and they were excellent. We are young, the average age is really low, so I am really happy with the attitude they showed. They can be proud of their efforts.

It was little surprise that Ipswich’s young guns dominated possession from the off, but in Framlingham they found themselves up against well-organised and determined opposition – particularly during the opening 45 minutes.

None more so was this evident than in the eighth minute when full-back Cion Wren made two blocks on the line within a matter of seconds before goalkeeper Harry Lay-Fulcher retreated to make a smart diving save.

Ipswich continued to probe, and yet – with 18 minutes on the clock – the hosting Castlemen went so close to shocking their opposition.

A swift counter-attack was worked out to right winger Mason Ransome, who duly cut inside and from 25 yards out sent his curling left-footed effort crashing against the crossbar.

It was cruel luck on Framlingham, who went on to be the masters of their own downfall as far as the tie’s opening goal was concerned nine minutes later.

Under pressure, they gave up possession inside their own half and Ipswich sprung into life with Zak Brown eventually playing in Fraser Alexander to roll in his effort from close range.

To Framlingham’s credit, they refused to open the floodgates and instead set about swinging dangerous set-piece deliveries into Ipswich territory. One of those in the 44th minute saw James Mayhew rise highest but he could not get a clean connection and Antoni Bart in the visitors’ goal made the stop.

And within 60 seconds, the home side found themselves two goals behind. This time Brown was the scorer, drilling in from the edge of the box past Lay-Fulcher after he had attempted to save with his feet.

However, the hosts’ spirits were raised three minutes after the restart when the deficit was halved. Alex Ling’s free-kick was turned across the face of goal, where a stretching Willett was able to turn the ball home.

But any hopes of a famous comeback were dashed in the 51st minute as Ipswich stamped their authority back on proceedings. Cameron Stewart was the scorer on this occasion, burying his half-volley from 10 yards out.

At this point the fear was that Ipswich would rack up goal after goal, particularly with fatigue starting to take hold.

They did manage to score twice more – both from the impressive Brown in the 68th and 88th minute to complete his hat-trick – but to Framlingham’s credit they continued to put bodies on the line, made blocks and also carried the odd threat from set pieces before the final whistle was blown.