IPSWICH WANDERERS v. HAVERHILL ROVERS

RIDGEONS LEAGUE DIV.1 – 26TH MARCH 2005

Almost on cue from the referee’s whistle to start the game, heavy and persistent rain started and looked set in for the afternoon. Wanderers were without an injured Ricky Martin but were other wise at full strength. This was a crucial game for both teams in their push for promotion and to reflect this, there was a nervy but very competitive start to the game.

Haverhill were on the attack from the off with Kent, down the right, causing problems and David a handful in the centre. On 12 minutes Haverhill had the first opportunity to open the scoring when a foul on David in the ‘D’ resulted in a free kick which Palazon took but was easily cleared by the Wanderers defence. On 16 minutes, at the other end, Dean Tournay-Godfrey had a snap shot which was fumbled by Bavester but eventually cleared. Wanderers took the lead on 22 minutes when Jorrell Hurd was fouled on the edge of the area and Tom Childs' accurate free kick was headed away for a corner. During the following melee, Jason Dozzell forced the ball over the line to much jubilant celebrations. However, Haverhill drew level on 34 minutes when Pilcher got to the by line and his weak cross somehow eluded the defenders and David was on hand to slide the ball in at the far post. Until then Wanderers were gaining the upper hand with Jorrell Hurd and David Grimwood finding room on the right and the defence dealing more comfortably with Haverhill’s attacks.

The referee had brought out his card 3 times in this half, which by no means indicated a bad tempered game, more a passionate and determined encounter.

Ipswich Wanderers 1 Haverhill Rovers 1

The rain stopped as the second half began and a weak sun struggled to break the gloom. Tempers flared on the hour when Jorrell Hurd was booked and Haverhill players continued to argue the point with the referee to gain themselves bookings for their trouble. Wanderers won possession from the resultant free kick and Jorrell Hurd ran deep into the Haverhill half. The ball ran to Rene Swann who hammered home to give Wanderers the lead for the second time in the match.

The game became even more bad tempered with a succession of yellow cards being shown, but it seemed the more that were given, the more the referee lost control. As Wanderers continued to attack, Paul Westren started to show down the left and Rene Swann and Dean Tournay-Godfrey were looking more eager in the middle. Wanderers were not home and dry by a long way with Palazon and David looking dangerous but Haverhill, overall, seemed too desperate to score for any coherent moves to be put together.  The Wanderers back line of Layton, Goldfinch, Dozzell and Childs held firm for the 5 minutes of added time and collected 3 vital but hard earned points to take them back to the top of the table.