The game that divided the town

Friday 23 September 2016, Haverhill Borough 1 Haverhill Rovers 0 - FA Vase 2nd Qualifying Round - New Croft (3G)

Not sure if the town was divided, but made a good slogan for the programme cover and rather than divided it seemed to bring the town out together as 654 (plus loads of freebies) turned up at the new G3 ground next to the existing home of Rovers.

A bit feisty on the pitch as the Borough captain saw red, this was the first ever local derby between the teams and to make it even more spicier, most of the Rovers team and their manager were at Borough last year!

The new ground, is better than I thought for a G3 stadia, small seated stand, small terrace and hard standing on one side - you can only view the pitch from two sides, and even with the changing rooms shared they have built their own small club house/tea bar and to top the night off the FA even had the Vase along to witness this memorable night in West Suffolk.

Undefeated - some feat

Saturday 18 May 2013 - Gas Recreation FC 4 Haverhill Sports Association 1, Suffolk and Essex Border League

Gas Rec as they are better known finished the league season with a win (against the second placed team) but more importantly it meant they had gone through the whole season undefeated winning the league plus two cups.

Bromley Road is a playing field that has seen better days and it is planned to build homes on the site but keeping one pitch and that will see Gas Rec play at an improved home.

Whereas Haverhill are to make the step up in leagues, Gas Rec will remain in the Border League - and probably dominate again next season, but if the club does not have the facilities to go up at least half the team should be playing at a higher level- and you would have thought local clubs like Wivenhoe and Stanway would have offered some of the Gas Rec players the chance to move up the pyramid.

But you often find clubs like this where players remain loyal to a lower league club - but often it is because they just like to win trophies and may not wish to play at a higher level but for a struggling club.

But Gas Rec, with improved facilities should look to move up themselves- just under a hundred fans watched the game today, a crowd that would be welcomed by many clubs playing in the league above.