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!!!