No.14 - Sat 15th October 2011; Suffolk FA Junior Cup Round 2;                              2.15pm at the Wrentham Playing Fields, London Road, Wrentham, Beccles, Suffolk, NR34 7HJ. 

Matchday images (52) https://picasaweb.google.com/footballgroundsinfocus/MutfordWrenthamFC

Mutford & Wrentham (0) 1  Waveney (5) 10

On the crest of a Wave...

After suffering serious clutch problems last week the Wraymobile was thankfully firing on all cylinders and safely back on the road again today. Our destination was Wrentham, a tiny village, located only a couple of miles from the Suffolk coast midway between Lowestoft and Southwold. With little traffic on the major routes we covered the seventy cross-country miles from racing HQ with ease and arrived in good time for our chosen game, the much awaited Suffolk Junior Cup Second Round tie between hosts Mutford & Wrentham (Lowestoft & District League) and neighbouring visitors Waveney (Anglian Combination League).

The recreation ground is very easy to find being literally on the main single track section of the A12 with the gated entrance clearly visible as you pass the village sign post on your left. I can't imagine hoppers finding another ground as close as this along the entire thoroughfare. The rural site enclosed by fences and hedges is bordered by vast open fields and some local housing off the London Road. Without any dedicated car park visitors can leave their vehicles along the side of the playing field a stone's throw away from the action. 

The main tree-lined club facilities, incorporating a couple of relatively new portakabin-style function rooms and an elevated wooden changing building complete with veranda, are staggered in a row behind the goal. Away to the right on the far side you can see a much older and more delapidated timber-framed pavilion, possibly used as a cricket scoreboard at one time or another. In complete contrast and looking slightly out of place for this level of football are two sturdy modern curved perspex dug outs, containing eight red plastic seats apiece, placed next to the half-way line on the opposite, entrance side of the ground.

After achieving much success last season which saw the hosts gain both promotion to the top flight of the L&DL and reach the Suffolk Primary Cup semi-final (see a review from that terrific game at Great Blakenham Football Club on http://footballgroundsinfocus.com/R101133.htm) last season, the club has made an indifferent start to this campaign, winning only one of their opening six league games. Indeed it soon became clear upon arrival that Mutford were having serious trouble in fielding a side today. With no less than seven regular first team players missing through illness and injury, the player-coach was left with the fruitless task of having to frantically phone around trying to track down further squad members in order to bolster his much depleted squad. Although the kick-off was delayed for five minutes by referee Kevin Batty to make an allowance for this, they were still a couple of players short as the teams took to the field. This certainly didn't bode well for what was their debut in the prestigious SFA Junior Cup competition.      

As expected Lowestoft-based side Waveney (currently mid-table in the ACL Division 4) proved far too strong an opposition and dominated play from the start of the game. By half-time the visitors dressed in gold and black were already five goals up. Young Tom Aldis, a tricky front-runner, had bagged himself a hat-trick - his best effort after thirty six minutes when he acrobatically flicked on a crossed ball with his head which escaped the best efforts of hapless outstretched keeper Mark Purser. 

They say when your luck is down, it's down. Incredibly, having reached a full complement of players with the late comers arriving mid-way through the first half, Mutford unfortunately found themselves back down to ten men just after the break when their newest arrival Tony Biwater was given his marching orders after deilberately handling the ball whilst blocking a shot on the line. Needless to say defender Justin Evans (54) took full advantage of this simple scoring opportunity, converting the resultant spot kick to make it six-nil. Embarrassingly my remarks didn't go down too well with the young lad standing next to me after I learned that it was his dad who had just been sent off. Oooops!!             

On the hour mark James Fitzgerald pulled one back for the homesters after cheekily lobbing Waveney's keeper Jonathan Field from distance much to the great delight of the home fans taking the score to 1-7. However Waveney were in no mood to sit back on their lead and in a late flurry had just enough time for Evans (79) to notch his second from the penalty spot; Mark Willis (80) to sidefoot home and Stephen Scarff (88) to score from close range. The emphatic result now sees the visitors ball bound for the velvet bag when the draw for the next round is made in Stowmarket early next week.

The match, played in lovely bright autumn sunshine on one of the most undulating and rutted (unroped) surfaces I think I've seen for a while, attracted a crowd of just twelve spectators made up mostly of players' wives and girlfriends who took their place in the home dug out. Although refreshments are normally served from one of the club buildings it appeared to be closed on our visit today. Luckily we had planned ahead and brought our own nibbles and drinks when setting out at mid-day.

Although as you would expect Mutford, like all teams in the L&DL, do not issue programmes the league does have its own website to provide visitors with information - see address below. Incidentally for those hoppers who like myself enjoy the excitement of County Cup football the Suffolk FA provides excellent coverage of all competitions on its own site, again a link for this is added below.

On Monday a quick scroll through the competitions page revealed that Waveney would now travel to Bartons FC (St Edmundsbury League) in the next round. Indeed it had been quite a day for high scoring games - with DK Consultants also beating Corton Seltic 10-1. However spare a thought for poor old AFC Titans who had been thrashed by fellow Suffolk & Ipswich League club Parkside United by 12-0. Mind you this was a dramatic improvement from the previous week when Waterside got the better of them winning 14-0 in an opening round fixture of the Touchline Sports (League) cup!!   

I can't wait for the next round of matches in the SFAJC to begin. At the moment a trip towards the Suffolk coast looks favourable again with Hearts of Oak (v Bungay Town) and Barsham (v Thurlow RE) both strong possibilities for the scheduled date, November 5th. However the tie between Sporting 87 and Mildenhall United also appeals with the hosts now playing at their new Victory Sports Ground base in Bury St Edmunds and the strong possibility of the club issuing a programme too! Without doubt though the standout tie of the round sees Ipswich Exiles take on Westerfield United (currently 1st v 2nd in the SIL Senior Division). Decisions... decisions...the joys of county cup football continue. Have fun whever you go!

FGIF Match Stats

                                                    Scorers: (H) J Fitzgerald (72) and                                                  (A) T Aldis (16; 31; 36); T Renshaw (18; 42); J Evans (54; 79pen); D Grigg (63); M Willis (80); S Scarff (88) 

Attendance: 12; Admission and Program: None; Match rating: 3/5; Ground rating: 3/5.

Links

http://www.suffolkfa.com/default.htm

http://full-time.thefa.com/gen/Index.do?league=3733039

http://lowestoftdistrictleague.blogspot.com/

edited on 16/10/11