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.