Felixstowe & Walton United FC

Coming away from Long Melford on Wednesday having witnessed an 8-1 win in The Suffolk Premier Cup, it was interesting hearing people talking about the upcoming match with AFC Sudbury three days later. Clearly nobody was expecting a repeat of the performance we saw at Stoneylands, but in fact I didn’t hear a single voice suggesting anything other than a very tough nut to crack back at The Goldstar.  True, Sudbury were languishing near the foot of the table but this was partly due to the fact they had been on a good cup run and had games in hand.

 Nevertheless, come the day, come the optimist. Saturday arrived full of autumn sun, BBC Radio Suffolk turned up to broadcast live from the game, 663 fans paid what they wanted at the turnstile on this Non-League Day, a couple of ground hoppers made themselves known and a collection was in place for Prostate Cancer UK. All that was required to round things off was a nice home win and another three points. Regrettably it didn’t happen.

 The only goal of the game came at the worst of times, just before the break in the 44^thminute. It was the impressive Reece Harris who gave The Suds the three points they worked so hard to secure to help lift them from the wrong end of the table.

 Speaking after the game, Joint Manager Ian (Watty) Watson paid credit to Sudbury and added, “We didn’t create enough and we didn’t pass the ball well enough today. The boys are disappointed, but that’s good. It shows passion.”

 When you look at the football results on a Saturday night (or these days a Friday, Saturday or Sunday night) all you really discover is how many goals were scored and who scored them. This game was no different. This 1-0 win for the visitors could easily have been a goalless draw but for a simple mistake in the Felixstowe defence, allowing Harris to score. It’s also true to say that a couple of excellent stops from Jack Spurling prevented an even bigger win for the visitors.

 Perhaps a share of the points would have been fairer but as Ian Watson said earlier, somehow our passing did let us down a little and midfield was having to work very hard to create anything up front. Again, highlighting what was said to Seasiders TV after the game, the players were clearly upset at not having picked up anything from the game.

 Should anyone be worried about failing to get anything from this game, it’s worth pointing out that we sit in a comfortable 10^thplace just one point away from the play-offs. It’s very early days but what we have established so far is that we are clearly a match for anyone, home or away, but also are smart enough to realize that we will need to work hard for each and every point this season.

 The day ended with something of a shrug of the shoulders with attention now directed to next Saturday’s trip south to Tilbury who find themselves struggling a little near the bottom of the table. Despite today’s result it’s reasonable to suggest that controlled optimism would be warranted for next Saturday.

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