IPSWICH WANDERERS v. HARWICH AND PARKESTON

RIDGEONS PREMIER LEAGUE

TUESDAY 7TH NOVEMBER 2006

Harwich arrived at Humber Doucy Lane hoping to make it third time lucky in getting a result against Ipswich Wanderers who were looking to obtain their third clean sheet in a row.

Wanderers lined up with a few faces missing from Saturday's game against Diss, Terry Layton replaced Neil Shade, Lee Owen replaced Paul Westren and Gary Bennett came in for his first start replacing the injured Dean Tourney-Godfrey.

After just only a minutes play Rene Swann lobbed the ball over the cross bar after Danny Smy had played a hopeful long ball. Harwich then pushed forward and won two consecutive corners which were both cleared by the Wanderers in-form defence.

There was a slight scare for Harwich in the 10th minute when Gary Bennett's sliced cross was fumbled by goalkeeper Wass and he just managed to recover, preventing it crossing the line.

Wanderers were starting to apply a bit more pressure and after 15 minutes Ricky Martin's sliced shot was headed back across goal by Danny Smy but a good solid challenge by a Harwich defender stopped Gary Bennett from applying the finishing touch. Wass then made amends for his ‘fumble’ by making a superb double save from Rene Swann after Lee Owen's perfect through ball put him in on goal.

Harwich had their first notable chance after 25 minutes when Murray went through one on one with Jamie Stannard who blocked the shot and from the resulting corner Stevens headed over the Wanderers bar.

On the half hour mark Wanderers were awarded a penalty, Morley went in pursuit of Ricky Martin and was adjudged to have handled in the area,  Rene Swann took the resulting spot kick and scored his obligatory goal against Harwich by sending the goalkeeper the wrong way.

Shortly afterwards, Harwich tried to bounce back and Brothers had a shot saved by Jamie Stannard, Danny Smy then hit the ball in the side netting after latching on to a pass from Sean Bell.

On the stroke of half time Danny Smy was stretchered off with a nasty looking injury after a late challenge from Matson, who may have been lucky not to have been shown a yellow card.  Lee Smith came on to replace the unfortunate Danny Smy and Lee Owen moved to the right side of midfield.

Half Time: Ipswich Wanderers 1 Harwich & Parkeston 0

The second half started in explosive fashion, Marc Lowe took exception to a challenge by Harwich captain Race and a melee broke out in the centre circle with everyone involved with the exception of Jamie Stannard, who jokingly admitted he had a bad back, and stayed put in his goal area.  The referee eventually brought it under control with a little help from his assistants and it resulted in bookings for Alan Mills and Marc Lowe for Wanderers and Race for Harwich.

This really brought the game to life and soon afterwards Ricky Martin hit the cross bar with a curling effort from outside the area with the keeper well beaten. Martin was then replaced after 58 minutes by the Kesgrave Ultras ‘cult hero’ Fabio Botti.

On the hour mark Brothers had another chance for Harwich when put through but he shot wide. Harwich were looking much more lively and Jamie Stannard had to be at his best to produce a smart save from Underwood who really should have scored.

After 69 minutes Wanderers were awarded a free kick after Lee Owen was fouled outside the box. Lee Owen took the kick himself and blasted home low into the bottom left corner.

A few minutes later Wanderers went three up after Sean Bell found Gary Bennett with a cracking pass after a corner had been cleared. Gary Bennett curled the ball into the top left corner; it was an exquisite finish and a great way to open up his Wanderers account. Five minutes later Gary Bennett was substituted (presumably for shock after scoring such a great goal. Sorry Gary!!!!) and on came Ben Miller to shore up the midfield.

The game started to have a bit more spark with 5 minutes left as tackles started to fly in and Towse was booked for Harwich for a challenge on Rene Swann.

In injury time Ben Miller burst down the left wing and picked out Fabio Botti whose effort hit the post but he reacted quickly and headed the rebound just over. However Fabio Botti was rewarded a couple of minutes later when he managed to score at the death, slotting home after Lee Owen had flicked on.

Wanderers made it three clean sheets in a row and have scored 15 times against Harwich this season, who must be sick of the sight of Wanderers now, but at least they won’t have to worry about playing Wanderers again this season.

It was a very good battling performance against a physical Harwich side and it was nice to see players getting ‘stuck in’. Hopefully Danny Smy will make a quick recovery in time for the Vase game against Brimsdown.

It was also encouraging to see two new goal scorers on the score sheet in Fabio Botti and Gary Bennett.

1 Jamie Stannard

2 Terry Layton

3 Sean Bell

4 Mark Goldfinch

5 Alan Mills

6 Danny Smy (sub 45)

7 Lee Owen

8 Marc Lowe

9 Rene Swann

10 Gary Bennett (sub 72)

11 Ricky Martin (sub 58)

12 Fabio Botti (sub 58)

14 Lee Smith (sub 45)

15 Ben Miller (sub 72)

16

17

Goals: Swann, Owen, Bennett, Botti

Bookings: Lowe, Mills