Dutch hit seven

Tuesday 27 October 2026, Ipswich Town Under 21s 0 PSV Eindhoven Under 21s 7 - Premier League International Cup, Portman Road

As it was half term and a lunchtime kick off ( because PSV were using the Hook-Harwich Ferry, rather than fly) a large number of children were at the game, and they all seemed happy even with Ipswich getting hammered.

Not a fan of Premier League reserve teams being allowed into the EFL, like many Premier League Clubs want - but you can see from this game (and the Anderlecht one last week) that playing Championship level football in their own countries meant the European Under 21 sides are much stronger and football wise than our Under 21 teams.

Over half of the Dutch side played in their Second Division team at the weekend whilst one of their players has played for the first team and Cape Verde!

The Dutch scored after 2 and half minutes and were 6 up by the break. Ipswich never let their heads drop and continued to try and play football but without ever putting the Dutch keeper under any real pressure. PSV just added one further goal in the second half.

Wind and rain

Saturday 24 October 2026, Gosfield United 2 The Rodings and Waltham 4 - Essex and Suffolk Border League, Premier Division, Notley High School

G4 Card played but also meant only a short drive and completed my second closest Step 7 League

Astro at the back of the school, on the edge of Braintree, usual cage set up with spectator area on 3/4 of one side of the pitch. Astro in very good condition.

Heavy rain and swirling wind throughout the game but both team still attempted to play football. Both teams joined the senior division this season, so expected a close game however quite obvious that the visitors were much the better team when it came to attacking. They took the lead on 6 minutes however Gosfield were back on level terms after 18 minutes. The visitors missed a number of good chances before adding further goals on 22 and 41 minutes.

The second half was more even  and the home side pulled a goal back on 65 minutes, however the visitors secured the points with a 4th goal on 85 minutes and still had time to miss a couple more good chances.

Hard won point

 Friday 23 October 2026, Ipswich Town 1 Nottingham Forest 1 - Premier League, Portman Road

Forest were the better team, but we never gave up and our hard work deserved some reward

Easy win

Friday 23 October 2026, Ipswich Town Under 21s 5 Birmingham City Under 21s 0 - Premier League 2, Playford Road.

Hard to decide if it was great display by Ipswich or they just faced a very poor Birmingham side? Think it was a bit of both!

Ipswich could have scored about 3 in the first 5 minutes but Birmingham survived, only to go behind from an own goal on 11 minutes. Ipswich stayed on top with their full backs acting more like out and out wingers than defenders, further goals were added in the 28th and 39 minutes, Ipswich even managed to miss an open goal from 10 yards out.

Second half was still mainly all Ipswich but they just added two further goals in the 51st and 54th minute.

Game was played on the Playford Road site, whilst most games at U18 and U21 level have been played across the road at Bent Lane in the past.

Wind and rain

Wednesday 21 October 2026, Ipswich Town Under 17s 1 Fulham Under 17s 3 - Premier League Under 17 Cup, Group Game, Bent Lane Training ground

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Strong winds heavy rain and not a great game.

Even start to the game then Fulham got on top and took the lead after 25 minutes and added a second after 37 minutes. We also had a mass punch up- with just 2 yellow cards shown, start of the season we saw 22 player punch ups in the Under 16 and Under 18 games v Fulham - Coincidence?

​Ipswich had plenty of the ball but final pass was often poor and the Fulham keeper had little to do, whilst when Fulham attached it nearly always ended up with a shot on target.

Fulham added a third on 56 minutes, both teams made a number of subs and the Ipswich subs managed to start putting pressure on Fulham and pulled a goal back on 68 minutes. Ipswich had most of the play in last 20 minutes but could not add to their solitary goal.

Return to Europe (sort of)

Tuesday 20 October 2026, Ipswich Town Under 21s 0 Anderlecht Under 21s 1 - Premier League International Cup, Portman Road

Poor game that Anderlecht probably just deserved on their first half display, taking their goal well on 22 minutes. Ipswich were better in the second half but the visiting keeper did not have to do much, game came to life in the last 5 minutes when one of the Belgian team got a straight red card then the Belgian keep decided to pretend he had been shot and laid on the ground for a good 2 minutes, then suddenly recovered to take the free kick!

Never get wet here

Saturday 17 October 2026, Egham Town 4 AFC Portchester 2 - Isthmian League, South Central Division, Runnymede Stadium

Well, you would never get wet here watching a game, a decent seated stand however also 5 covered terrace stands!

Game was only a few minutes old and the first strong tackle went in, not a dirty foul but set the tone for the game with plenty of tough challenges/fouls from both sides.

Home side went in front after 3 minutes but Portchester were back on terms 3 minutes later. then the first of 2 Egham penalties, this one on 10 minutes as Egham took the lead again.

Portchester got back level on 48 minutes as the tackles/fouls were still keeping the Ref busy and on 65 minutes Egham went ahead again from the penalty spot, the Portchester player also got his second yellow card and an early bath.