'Pork Pie' army go home happy

Saturday 18 March 2017, Potton United 0 Melton Town 2 - The Hollow, United Counties League, Div 1

On league positions expected a home win but in the end the lads from the home of the Pork Pie won with ease, impressed not only with the way they played football but also their work effort.

Potton may have lost but they have got a lovely neat ground, a brick seated stand stand that was needed with the rain and a (posh but) welcoming clubhouse and reasonably priced burger and bovril. Add to that a programme with plenty to read in it and you can see that Potton are a well run club. But that did not help them today against a Melton side that just seemed to want it more.

On their way to Portman Road?

Saturday 11 March 2017, Capel Plough 2 Leiston St Margaret's 0 - Suffolk Senior Cup, quarter final, Friars Playing Field

Cup match and great cake, what is there not to like about watching local non-league football. My third Senior Cup match of the season and all have been close and this one was also competitive but Capel never looked in any trouble after going in front.

A good set up at Capel, great little club house - mugs of tea, tasty cake and a bar! The pitch was over 100 metres away but was in good shape, plenty of grass and fully roped off. Surprised the crowd only hovered at about 30 as it is the quarter, Woodbridge got over 200 in the all  Eastern Counties League tie.

Match slightly spoilt at the end with two needless sending offs, not that you can blame the ref as neither player helped themselves. it looked like the trouble would spill over to include the two benches but the incident was soon forgotten and great to see a few minutes later at the end of the match, handshakes all round and the Leiston team wishing Capel good luck in the next round.

So will i be seeing Capel again in the final at Portman Road next month?

Quality pitch

9 March 2017, Beckenham Town 1 Crowborough Athletic 3- Eden Park Avenue, Southern Counties East League

The ground is beginning to look a bit tacky, the home team are near the bottom - but when you arrive you just can't believe how green the pitch is for this time of the year.

It was not just the pitch that was a nice surprise, Beckenham may be just one off the bottom and the visitors just one place from the top but what we saw was a very competitive game and  Crowborough had to work hard to get the three points.

Beckenham  have a talented young team maybe just need a bit more encouragement from their coaching team who just seemed to want to shout and moan at both the ref and their own players.

All in all, it was a good evening of football and really like the feel of the place, just hope they find enough to stay up.

One word - Poor!

Tuesday 7 March 2017, Ipswich Town 0 Wolverhampton Wanderers 0 - Championship, Portman Road

Maybe two words, very poor!

Sun, rain, hail, sun and more rain - typical match day at Playford Rd

Monday 6 March 2017, Ipswich Town Under 23s 2 Bristol City Under 23s 1 - Playford Rd Training Ground, Professional Development League.


Not a bad game, good win and we had various micro climate changes during the 90 minutes!

Not as bad as it was (or as good as it has been)

Saturday 4 March 2017, Ipswich Town 1 Brentford 1 - Championship, Portman Road

Played better recently but still did not lose!

Distant stand

Wednesday 1 March 2017, Wodson Park 2 Codicote 1- Spartan south Midlands League, Division 1, Wodson Park Athletics Ground

Not a bad game, 3 goals, 2 red cards and a friendly (if small crowd) but hard to like football grounds that are also athletic stadiums. Some do it well, Enfield and Hornchurch but some are cold bleak places- Croydon.

Not all bad at Wodson, a bar, tea and coffee and a good programme but the one stand - is big enough for their small crowds, it keeps the rain off, you can stand or sit but the big issue? It is over 60 metres from the pitch - with the track and 2 long jump pits )and  some grass) between the stand and the pitch. It could be worse! When I visited in the Summer the stand was placed down by the corner flag.

But at least Wodson have a home and far better than the G3 cgae next door where Ware