After a week of incessant coughing, spluttering and wheezing (not necessarily in that order) I decided it was best not to travel too far from Lemsip HQ for my footy fix today. A visit to Weeting Football Club was an ideal tonic to lift the flagging spirits and the favourable short journey was easily completed in time for the eagerly awaited Norfolk County FA Primary Cup Third Round tie against Gorleston-based side Prostar Windows.

Weeting village is just over the county boundary being only a couple of miles from the neighbouring town of Brandon (in Suffolk) and can be reached by turning immediately left after crossing over the main Ely-Norwich railway line on the A1065. The ground is only a few minutes drive from here.

The village itself is characterised by the beautiful church of St. Mary which is one of 124 existing round-tower churches found in the county and Weeting Castle, a 12th-century ruin with a three-story-high tower. Despite the name, it is not actually a castle but a fortified manor house, having a large open hall and an attached two-storey chamber block. There's a domed brick ice-house on the northwest corner of the moat added in the 14th century. The place is thought to have been abandoned in 1390 and is now owned by English Heritage with the location open all year round for visitors. Weeting also has many thatched cottages and is home to one of the longest continuous lines of thatched roofed houses in the country.

The club plays its home games at The Park found off Saxon Place which is close to the village pub (The Saxon, used by the players for post-match ale quaffing) and a small petrol station cum mini provisions store. A short driveway leads to the adjacent village hall with car parking available alongside. The well maintained playing fields are enclosed by some local housing on the nearside and a smart new fence on the far side where a row of tall  evergreen trees form an imposing and rustic backdrop to the action along the B1112 Brandon Road which runs parallel.

The players use a small, antiquated, wooden changing pavilion in the right hand corner of the field. In need of much refurbishment, it is separated from adjacent children’s play area by a mesh fence with access gained to the football pitch through a robust swing gate. Without a perimeter rope, dug outs or cover this is, as you would imagine, a rather basic set-up!

The main pitch must be one of the smallest I have seen in my travels for some time. It really is tiny with little space to speak of behind both sidelines. Indeed there is barely enough room for players to take a corner properly (on the far side) - one step back and that's about it! After much rain in the days leading up to the game, the pitch itself looked in good nick and appeared to drain well. Local hoppers looking for a game in bad weather take note!

The hosts, members of the Central and South Norfolk League welcomed their opponents from the Great Yarmouth & District League to Saxon Place. Sympathy must go to the visitors who endured a good four hour round trip to fulfil the fixture today! Before play both sides (coincidentally placed mid table in their respective leagues) looked well matched. Weeting came into the game on the back three wins including a terrific 13-1 thumping of Northwold Reserves in the League Cup seven days ago with Prostar Windows enjoying similar form having only lost only one out of their previous six matches. For the neutral a close cup tie was therefore in prospect. Bring it on!

Weeting made what they thought was a dream start when Richard Squibb’s (2) long shot found the back of the net moments after kick-off. Sadly the goal was ruled out by referee Dave Freemantle who correctly spotted a foul during the build up play. The visitors responded in the best possible way when Dean Sutton’s cross from the right was converted by a delightful header from Jason Symons (3). Windows added a second in dramatic fashion when the fast paced Sutton (10) timed his run perfectly to head the ball over advancing keeper Callum Powell - incredibly this was set up by his own keeper Paul Casey whose long punt downfield was allowed to bounce on the edge of the other penalty area. The visitors increased their lead through Carl Clemence (15) who fired home after great work by Ian Wynes down the right. To make matters worse for Weeting keeper Powell suffered a serious injury after colliding with one of his own players during a goalmouth scramble and had to be replaced on the half-hour mark.

Despite a spirited fight-back Weeting couldn’t find a way through the resolute Windows defence and conceded once more during the second half. It was Lou Arbon (65) who reacted first after a poor clearance to fire the ball home through a group of players from 25 yards out to underline what had been a terrific performance. The fourth round draw (last sixteen) for the Primary Cup will be made later next week. I imagine a home tie in Gorleston would be much appreciated!           

The match played in cold but bright conditions was attended by only a handful of spectators. I spent some time in the second half chatting pitch side with personable Joe Green, the Weeting Football Club secretary. A self-confessed Spurs fan, Joe grew up like many of the players, in the village. Having seen some old black and white team photos he has reason to believe that the club was formed back in the 1930’s playing on a field next to a farm on the outskirts of the village. Since those early days the team has played continuously in local Sunday League football having moved in later years to their present home off Saxon Place.

Last season a decision was taken by the four-man strong committee to play Saturday football and a successful application to join the Central and South Norfolk League was made. This move was seen as a great step forward as it would help the club in its future bid for Football Foundation grants in order to fulfil its ambition of building a ground with better facilities. Already a twelve acre site with space for two pitches has been earmarked on land located just down the road. Watch this space for more as they say.

Although Weeting Football Club doesn’t cater for spectators who are keen to get their hands on programmes or refreshments, it does however publish its own website, a cracking effort for a team at this level in the football pyramid. To check out further details about this, the C&SN league and County FA websites, readers can log on to the links listed below. A visit to this friendly little club comes highly recommended. What are you waiting for? Even with a heavy cold the joys of hopping in leafy Norfolk continue. Now where did I put those blackcurrant throat lozenges?!