IPSWICH WANDERERS v. FELIXSTOWE AND WALTON UTD

RIDGEONS LEAGUE DIV 1 – 29TH MARCH 2005

Wanderers made several changes to their starting line up, including giving Mark Francis his first start and leaving influential midfield duo Marc Lowe and David Grimwood on the bench. There was a bumper Easter crowd to see this local derby and there was a great buzz in the stands despite the chill of a misty evening.

After 10 minutes of fairly innocuous football, Chris Sadler cleared from defence to Jorrell Hurd on the right. His first time cross to the back of the box was headed into the danger area by Rene Swann, and Dean Tournay-Godfrey laid the ball into the path of an advancing Jorrell Hurd whose shot went hard and low under the diving body of Pitts in the Felixstowe goal. Dean Tournay-Godfrey had a chance to increase the lead when Francis’ cross found him alone 8yds out but his header went straight into the arms of Pitts. Felixstowe’s Irving warmed Jamie Stannard’s hands with a powerful shot on 30 minutes after good play from Beddoes had earned them a corner.

Wanderers attacked in waves and only the lack of finishing skills kept the score to a single goal. On 43 minutes, Barker’s free kick from the halfway line was back-headed by Jason Dozzell to wrong foot Jamie Stannard but he recovered in time to tidy up.

Ipswich Wanderers 1 Felixstowe & Walton Utd 0

Wanderers continued to dominate the game into the second half but seemed to run out of ideas in the final 3rd of the pitch. They survived a couple of scares as Evans, Irving and Hunn all had the better of the defence but, ultimately, not Jamie Stannard in goal. The game was being played end to end at a furious pace, as though trying to finish the game before the gathering mist enveloped the ground.

Jorrell Hurd’s tricky back flick on 60 minutes opened up the Felixstowe defence but Pitts was quickly off his line to clear the danger. Several attacks late and Rene Swann won a race with Pickering to the ball and his lob was palmed onto the bar by Pitts. On 70 minutes the game changed completely as Hunn went down in the area under a challenge from Mark Goldfinch and a penalty was awarded. Hunn took the spot kick himself and had a second, successful, go after Jamie Stannard had parried the first effort. 

Wanderers were now in disarray and Felixstowe rampant. Pugh had the ball in the back of the Wanderers net from an acute after a determined run into the area but the assistant’s offside flag, rather controversially, ruled the effort out. Mark Goldfinch received a second yellow card and therefore went for an early shower and the tables looked completely turned as Wanderers’ use of all three substitutes did nothing to stem Felixstowe’s resurgence. Grimwood’s free kick on 87 minutes created the winning goal when Jason Dozzell headed back across the area for Paul Westren to bundle the ball into the net after some hesitant defending.

Wanderers will have counted themselves extremely fortunate to have wrested victory from the gaping jaws of defeat and saved themselves from the embarrassment of dropping more points at home against clearly inferior teams.