Tuesday 28 November 2023, Ipswich Town under 17s 1 Millwall Under 17s 1 - PDL Under 17 Cup, Playford Road G3 Pitch
Cold night, but joined 49 others watching a game on the astro at the Training ground- most there as parents but joined by a few 'hoppers' all there to tick the G3, as someone had put it on the App!!
Sunday 26 November 2023
Another double day!
1030am - Holbrook Swan 0 Borussia Martlesham 3 - Ipswich Sunday Football League, Premier Division, Reade Field
Ipswich Town Women 8 Sutton Coldfield Town Women 0
Women's FA Cup, 2nd Round
At Felixstowe and Walton United
Higher placed Ipswich gave their midland opponents a football lesson, could easily have been double figures on what was very cold afternoon on the coast. stand out player was Lenna Gunning-Williams, who bagged a hat trick ( she is on a season long loan from Spurs)
Felixstowe doing well financially from having Ipswich sue their ground as the food counter queue never seemed to go down from kick off to the finish.
Good to see the 'Spanner; bench in place.
Saturday 25 November 2023, Double game day in Surrey:
1230 - Spelthorne Sports 2 Camberley Town 2 - Combine Counties, Premier Division, South, Spelthorne Sports Club - then:
3pm - Chertsey Town 2 Southall 1, Isthmian League, South Central Division, Alwyns Lane
Like a number of hoppers used the early kick off at Spelthorne Sports to get two games in:
1230pm
Spelthorne Sports 2 Camberley Town 2
In the second half, a surprise to me, it was Spelthorne who were the team on top, but the game kept being interrupted as both teams committed a number of petty fouls. The home saved their best chances to the end and in the last 5 minutes they had two great chances to win the game.
The ground is very basic, next to a busy road, two small seated stands and a small standing cover, clubhouse is outside the ground, but a tea bar was open next to the changing rooms. A quick exit afterwards for the 15 minute drive to Chertsey.
Chertsey Town 2 Southall 1
Big game in the division, second v first. Even arriving with just 10 minutes to spare, still managed to fin a street car park space quite near.
Entered a ground where the bar and food stalls were doing good business, surprised to see so few Southall fans in attendance. Clubhouse is decorated in tribute to the Chertsey team who won the FA Vase.
Great start for Chertsey as they were in front after just 1 minute, and they continued to dominate with their main striker having numerous chances, Southall were disappointing and played little football and were happy to just lump it up front. However on 29 minutes they were back level after scoring from long range.
Second half, saw Southall down to 10 men after 51 minutes - defender sent off as he looked like he was the last man when fouling, Chertsey scored from the following free kick after Southall failed to clear the initial kick.
Southall then decided to play football and even with 10 men got on top, over 6 minutes of injury time and for every attacking set piece the visiting keeper went up front, made for great entertainment but they could not find the equaliser and Chertsey could not add a third goal, even with no keeper between the posts.
I had seen Cherstey away earlier in the season, and noticed their away support included some pensioners, all dressed like they had just left a Madness gig, the OAP Scooter club! Today there were even more of them, American Flying jackets DM boots and even one pork pie hat and all looked 65 plus!
Not many more games left for May & Baker here, as they prepare to move to their new ground, they had the small bar open tonight as the main bar had a birthday party on, so the game was played out to the sound of loud 80's disco music!.
A number of hoppers had been wondering about the new ground for Belle Vue as Futbology also seemed to be confused.
Colchester is still a large military town but the Garrison is much smaller than it used to be. Between all the old barracks was a large grassed area and on the edge of it there is an athletics stadium, Astro hockey pitches and a football pitch - known as Garrison 'B' it was used by the Youth teams of Colchester Utd for a number of years, as just a short walk from Layer Rd and this season it is being used by the Colchester United Women's team. The athletics track and hockey pitches are also used by local clubs as well as the military.
Then you had Garrison 'A' a cricket ground, with a small pavilion and score box, when I served in Colchester, it was hard enough to get to play a cricket match on the ground let alone ever think of playing football on it!! It was even used by Essex once, for a First Class cricket match, when the Castle Ground in Colchester was waterlogged.
The football pitch was in very good condition, on the far side of the cricket square, and roped off on one side with two portable dug outs.
Sudbury sports are part of the AFC Sudbury set up, with this team giving some of their academy players an opportunity to play Saturday football, however at the start they looked like they had never played together before, Belle Vue were 3 up after 31 minutes, and it looked like game over but Sudbury then seemed to remember how to pass to each other and got two goals back just before the break.
Sudbury looked much more organised in the second half but could not add to their two goals, Belle Vue were mainly defending but did look dangerous on the break as Sudbury pushed forward.
Then it went goal mad, Belle Vue got their fourth goal in the last minute of the game, then Sudbury pulled one back after 94 minutes, only for Belle Vue get their fifth goal with the last kick of the game.
Wednesday 8 November 2023, Arsenal Under 19s 1 Seville Under 19s 1 - UEFA Youth League, Boreham Wood FC
A game played in heavy rain, but on a pitch that played superbly. Well organised event, free and fans made welcome!
Football wise, Arsenal got a point but are going out at the Group stage, Seville still have a chance to qualify for the next stage.
Not impressed by Arsenal, some very poor passing, not sure many will make it to the Premier. Some of the Seville players might, but not impressed by their diving and playacting. The 3 match officials, all women from Romania, did well in a game made harder for them by the playacting.
Ipswich had a mostly U18 team with a few Under 21s but they dominated the first 30 minutes, scoring and also hitting the woodwork 3 times. Some of them seemed to relish playing against adults. (Not sure wanderers were at full strength).
Second half and Ipswich scored early on then wanderers dominated as Ipswich lost their shape and struggled physically, wanderers pulled one back but thanks to some last ditch defending and a good keeper, Ipswich held on and in fact looked more likely to score on a number of fast counter attacks they had.
Second half saw the South Park center back ( who was one of those booked in the first half) get a second yellow and Chertsey took advantage of the extra man and added a further 3 goals in the second half, for an easy win.
The London club strolled to an easy win. Ipswich changed their whole team from Saturday, it seemed Fulham see the cup as a higher priority than Ipswich.
Trouble was that it was not just our back up players, the issue was many of them were very short of match practice.
Once we introduced our subs, the game became more competitive, and if we had played a few more first choice players at the start, it may have been a better indication of how much more we would have to do, if promoted.
