Not the result needed

 Saturday 21 March 2026, Ipswich Town 1 Millwall 1 - Championship, Portman Road then onto:

Ipswich Wanderers 3 Kirkley and Pakefield 0, Easter Counties, Premier Division, Humber Doucy Lane

Not a great result for Ipswich Town, brilliant first half but poor in the second, with Coventry the only team to benefit.

Then onto Wanderers:

First visit to Wanderers this season, some improvements to the ground, but still has that classic 'non-league' feel - reason why so popular with ground hoppers.

Visitors had a good first ten minutes, but then it was mainly one way traffic, however Wanderers were only one up at the break, and that was thanks to an own goal!

Two further goals were added in the second half to give the home team an easy win.

Up the A1

Tuesday 17 March 2026, Newark and Sherwood United 3 Wisbech United 0 - United Counties League, Premier North, Fruehauf Stadium

Do not be fooled by the score, this was a very poor game. 0-0 at half time and not sure either keeper made a save, Newark at least started to get chances on target in the second half, the first goal was from the penalty spot after a handball on 66 minutes then a header from close range on 77 minutes for the second goal. A third goal was added on 83 minutes then a Wisbech player was shown a straight red card for a bad tackle on 89 minutes.

Wisbech spent far too much of the game throwing themselves to the floor whilst too many of the home team seemed to want to referee the game rather than play football.

Newark do well to survive on such low crowds and not even playing in Newark! They do seem to have a good set of volunteers, which does help. Stand and covered terrace plus good social club are all OK for this level, pitch is in poor condition, but with two teams using it, not a surprise.

Chose this game as it was my closest new tick and had been thwarted twice this season, first time by an accident then a frozen pitch. Easy journey up but 3 diversions on way back put a further 45 minutes on return trip.

Leicester Double

Saturday 7 March 2026 - 1230pm - Ipswich Town Under 18s 3 Leicester City Under 18s 1 - PL 2 U18, Playford Road Training Ground - then:

3pm - Ipswich Town 1 Leicester City 1 - Championship Portman Road.

First of all the main game in the afternoon, Without trying to sound if I am just moaning again about poor officiating- Ipswich are quite a placid crowd and our Manager hardly ever shouts - but today their was uproar at the end of the game - in fact, not seen a Ref get such abuse for over 50 years at Portman Rd, last time was early 70s when Colin Harper was (wrongly) sent off

The Under 18 game - Ipswich bottom of the league and City near the top but it was Ipswich who came out on to - scored after 6 minutes then a long delay when Ipswich keeper injured his back or neck, the Sub keeper was playing on the other Training Ground for the U16s, so a 10 minute wait till the change was made. Ipswich then added a second goal.

The half time was almost 20 minutes as we could not start the game till the ambulance returned from taking the Ipswich keeper to hospital. City got a goal back late on but Ipswich secured a rare win, with a further goal in injury time.

Playford Rd (First team training ground) being used by the U18 team as their pitch on the Bent Lane site is being re-laid.

Took a while but another good win!

Tuesday 3 March 2026, Ipswich Town 1 Hull City 0 - Championship, Portman Road

Took a while, but we got an incredible goal to beat Promotion rivals, Hull City.

Mental Hospital site

Sunday 1 March 2026, Witnesham wasps 4 Claydon Athletic 0 - Peter Cocker Senior Cup, St Audry's Sports and Social Club

One of my rare visits to watch Sunday football, chose this game as thought it would be a bit more than a park pitch. It was - on the site of the old Mental Hospital, Woodbridge Town did think of moving here. Poor pitch but railed on one side, concrete dugouts. Large cricket pavilion/social club. One further football pitch the other side of the cricket square.

Witnesham got off to a plying start and were two up within the first 10 minutes, then continued to dominate the half. Second half, was far more even, but Claydon could not get a goal back and then on the break, Witnesham added a third on 75 minutes and a fourth goal, 3 minutes later.

Witnesham keeper then stepped up to take a penalty on 83 minutes- but missed!

Much needed win

 Saturday 28 February 2026, Ipswich Town 3 Swansea City 0 - Championship, Portman Road

After the two defeats at Wrexham, a good win was needed to follow up the good result, mid-week at Watford

Town youngster shine again

 Friday 27 February 2026, Arsenal Under 21s 0 Ipswich town under 21s 1 - PL2, Boreham Wood FC

Another good result for this young Ipswich team, and a chance to see the young England/Arsenal superstar Dowman in action. The Arsenal youngster coming back from injury but showed enough in the 45 minutes he played to see why he is so highly rated with a couple of strong runs leaving Ipswich players in his wake.

However, Arsenal did not have much else to offer, in the end they just seemed to have one attacking plan- the long throw!

Ipswich scored early on and could have had two more before the break, Arsenal did have more of the ball in the second half but only had one real scoring chance, and that was in the final minutes of the game.

An Arsenal player got a red card in injury time not that many of us in the crowd realised at the time!

Visit was worth it for the ground, but not the football on display

 Tuesday 24 February 2026, Bath City 0 Weston-Super-Mare 0 - National League (South) Twerton park

A very poor game, only highlight - a Red card! But what a ground, a 'must' visit on any football fans wish list.

The combination of stands, the old terracing, the press box, gantry, stuck amongst houses on a very hilly side of the city - close to the city centre in distance but millions of miles away in architecture and design - but both worth a visit.

Wet Flanders Sunday

3 Games on a wet Sunday in Flanders.

Game 1 - FC Latem Under 17s 6 VV Volkegem Under 17 'B' 0 - Flanders Regional Under 17 League, Complex Hoge Heirweg

Game 2 - Racing Waregem 0 KFC Marke 0 - 1e Provincial West Falnders League, Mirakel Stadion

Game 3 - SC Zulte Waregem 2 RSC Anderlecht 4 - Jupiler Pro League, Elindus Arena

Game 1:

20 minutes on the bus from Gent Station got me to the outskirts of the city, and  a short walk of 5 minutes got me to the ground- old low seated stand on one side and a smaller modern stand on the other side, G3 Pitch (much needed, due to heavy rain). Club house also gave you a view of the pitch and a small junior pitch on the other side of the clubhouse.

Clubhouse selling hot drinks (and beer) and even had BBC Match of the Day on a big screen.

Football wise - very different to our U17 football- obvious that their were a number of Under 15's playing- some looked good and obvious playing in older age group because of their skill but others seemed to be just making the numbers up. However it was worth the effort as game played on the main pitch. FC Latem were 2 up in 8 minutes and added a third goal later in the half. Second half continued to be dominated by the home team and  a further 3 goals were added.

Then I had a choice of the bus back to Gent, a short break then the train to Waregem or a bus to Deinze, an hour for lunch then the train to Waregem, I opted for the Deinze route.

Arriving in Waregem, it was still raining, managed to get a bus halfway, but still meant a 15 minute walk to my next game at Racing Waregem.

Game 2:

Drawn to this game by the stadium- the colours of the seats and the name of the stadium, however the heavy rain did not show it in it's best light - arrived and lucky I still had 10 Euro cash as no cards taken, then in the large clubhouse you had to buy tokens from a machine before you got drinks - a system that did not seem popular with either the home or visiting fans.

Two stands, the one on the clubhouse side with the red and yellow seats and a large stand the other side, concrete, more basic and only used by 3 people during this game. Plastic pitch was good news as not sure many grass pitches at the level would have been playable.

A game that neither side dominated and no surprise that the game finished 0-0.

Lucky for me that the rain stopped just before the end of the game as it was a 25 minute walk, partly down a main road with open fields either side to the 'big' game of the day back in Waregem.

Game 3:

After rain all day, quite happy to be in hospitality and plenty of free beer, also seat was still in the stand above hospitality, so did not need to sit with the 'prawn sandwich' brigade, and that stand had an old school English ground feel. Anderlecht had a large following, so a great atmosphere. The big surprise was how Anderlecht won this game. The home side were on top from the start but a combination of poor finishing and good goalkeeping meant it was still still 0-0 till the 37th minute. Anderlecht appealed for a penalty for handball, game carried on, 5 minutes later, game stopped VAR got involved and the penalty was given! Anderlecht were one up.

Then the 'lesser known' Hazard took over and suddenly Anderlecht were 3 up as we went back to hospitality for more beer and cakes! Second half was the home team pull one gaol back before Hazard added a 4th and then the home team got a consolation in injury time. More beer and Frites with Mayo and then the 

 easier (and shorter) walk back through the city centre to the station and the short train trip back to Gent.

Great trip - one annoying thing- all 3 top division games, saw a DJ pitch side before kick off- and hour of 'Euro Garage' music before each game is not needed!!!

Saturday Brugge double

Saturday 21 February 2026 - Game 1 - Club YLA 2 RSC Anderlecht Women 3 - Super League Women, Municipal Sports Centre Aalter

Game 2 - Club Brugge 2 Oud-Heverlee Leuven 1 - Jupiler Pro League, Jan Breydel Stadion

 Game 1:

Rail replacement day - so it was going to be tight and plenty of walking - could of gone for an easier double somewhere else but I wanted to go to Brugge as trying to visit ever ground, Ipswich have played at in Europe. Buses left on time and a 20 minute walk to the ground in Aalter. The town is close to the main motorway between Gent and Brugge and closer to Gent. The ground is on the edge of the small town, so a walk from the train station but arrived an hour before kick off, got my ticket  and went in, good news clubhouse open and hot drinks and beer on sale, and the club house was above the mains stand and you could watch from there. The stand was quite modern and probably held a few hundred. opposite was a covered terrace, to the left was a grass  bank with the hockey clubhouse behind it. the other end backed on to the athletics ground. The site also had more pitches , swimming pool and paddle courts.

First thing to notice, was how low the crowd was compared to this level in England, maybe not helped by not playing in Brugge ( this is the Club Brugge women's team but play under a different name) and playing on a Saturday.

It was an end to end game from kick off to the finish, the visitors going ahead on 26 minutes only for Club YLA to get back on level terms 9 minutes later. On 61 minutes the home side went in front after a great goal only for their keeper to let a corner go directly into the goal on 67 minutes, both teams still pressed forward and it was Anderlecht who got the winner in injury time.

Then a 20 minute walk- and getting the bus to Brugge with a few minutes to spare to make sure I had at least 90 minutes to get from Brugge Train station to the ground.

Game 2:

Connecting bus from station was easy to get and arrived as rain was more of a drizzle - joined loads of Brugge fans in a 'fan park' behind one of the stands- beer, frites and tv showing an afternoon game, entered the ground and it is feeling it's age - but still a good atmosphere, maybe more British than the usual Ultra orchestrated feel you get at many top league European games. For a team in the Champions League a new ground is needed, especially if they wish to make more from hospitality but for me, I loved it, felt more like watching a game in the 90's in the UK before all the new stadiums were built.

Football wise, Brugge were on top most of the game but found it hard to break the opponents down, partly due to resting players for their next European game.

Afterwards got the bus back to the station (Number 30) be warned it is packed, so if not in a hurry have another beer at the ground or even walk back as the bus struggles to get going at first due to the heavy traffic around the ground.

Bus replacement to Gent was still running but I opted for the train and one change  my preferred route back. 

Out of town and out of sorts.

Friday 20 February 2026, KAA Gent 0 Cercle Brugge 1 - Jupiler Pro League, Planet Group Arena

Not a fan of out of town stadiums, and with the heavy rain, not great when looking for a bar- one found, close to the ground- a restaurant, that has set up a bar area for match days. However, once in the ground, it is impressive, and you can walk almost round the whole ground on the wide concourse, food and beer options aplenty and fast service- needed with ethe amount of beer being sold.

As not full- could choose to sit anywhere, Brugge only had a few hundred fans present, even with their city being just a few miles down the motorway - not helped probably by the 8.45 lick off.

Cercle Brugge were close to bottom of the table but that would surprise anyone who watched this game as they managed to make Gent look very poor, Brugge hit the post then took the lead on the stroke of half time with a deflected shot. It got worse for Gent on 50 minutes when one of their players got a straight Red Card for a very nasty challenge. It could have even been worse as they then gave away a penalty on60 minutes only for the home keeper to save it.

This lifted both the home team and the crowd and Gent pressed for an equaliser but Cercle Brugge held on for an unexpected win.

Leaving the ground was easy and did spot shuttle buses back to the city centre, however, I walked the 10 minutes or son to the closest tram stop.

TOP TIP

I did not know about this so had to rush to visit on the Saturday morning- but if in Gent, well worth a visit. The City Museum has been holding a football exhibition, marking 150 years of football in Gent, 125 years of KAA Gent, women's football and also looking at the other clubs in the city.

Even has a mock up of the bedroom of a certain Kevin De Bruyne - when he was 10- with a Michael Owen quilt cover. Best bits were the pictures of the old stadium, old match posters and tickets - well worth a visit and runs till the end of May.

Red Star Away win but this time in France

Thursday 19 February 2026, Lille OSC 0 Red Star Belgrade 1 - Europa League Play-Off, Stade Pierre-Mauroy

Weekend of football planned in Belgium but spotted that Lille may be in a home Europa League play-off game on the Thursday, so Eurostar booked and then just had to wait to see if my plan would work out. It did and a ticket was easily purchased as they only managed to fill half the ground ( guess may be very different in next round).

Plenty of Red Star fans in the main square and I let them leave for the stadium before I grabbed the Metro a few minutes later - first problem - the police closed the path to the ground from the Metro - so if not in the away section, had a longer walk to the ground. Very impressive stadium, roof closed, good sight lines from any seat. Be warned if going to a game in Lille, not all turnstiles were open and the body searches took a while - even so, both Red Star and Lille ultras managed to get pyro in! So I would recommend getting to the ground early and give yourself plenty of time as you queue to get in.

Football wise, Lille were very poor and very surprised to see that they ended up overturning this result with an away win in Serbia, playing Giroud from the start may of helped, he only made a late cameo appearance here. Red Star at the time seemed happy with the narrow win but in hindsight they should have gone for more goals in a game that they controlled easily for most of the 90 minutes.

With Red Star fans kept in the ground afterwards, it meant the path to the tube was open and was back in the city centre within 15 minutes. Train the next day  booked  for Gent