Felixstowe & Walton United FC

Our recent run of impressive form, with three consecutive league wins, six scored and none conceded, came to an end on Saturday at The King’s Marsh Stadium, home of AFC Sudbury, when we went down 4-2 in a game that proved beyond any doubt that football truly is a game of two halves.

The only change to the line up from Tuesday night’s win at Soham was at the back, with Dan Davis coming in for the injured Darcy De’ath. The first forty-five minutes saw Felixstowe struggle to get any real toe hold in a game which, thanks to some sterling effort from keeper Jack Spurling, did at least allow us to go into the half-time break on level terms.

For anybody who can see things in the spirit of ‘the bottle is half full, not half empty’, it was obvious that, from The Seasiders’ point of view, things could only get better. And whilst the second-half performance was a step up, things weren’t smooth running all the way. With twenty-five minutes left on the clock, a slightly clumsy tackle in the box allowed The Suds to open the scoring with a Paul Hayes penalty. However, it took just six minutes before a Rhys Henry effort from the right, close to goal, found its way into the back of the net to level things up. And as it turned out, things were most certainly not over by a long chalk.

With a little over five minutes of the ninety remaining, it looked like Mark Morsley’s team would take all three points when Callum Harrison put Sudbury ahead but pressure on the Sudbury goal from a Felixstowe eleven, that wasn’t quite ready to concede defeat, led eventually to a Callum Bennett corner which was converted by Jack Ainsley for what was surely an equalizer and confirmation that the two sides would share the spoils.

What nobody seemed to have noticed, however, was the substitution made by AFC Sudbury in the 77^thminute when 17-year-old Freddie King came on to replace Phil Kelly. Living up to his name, young Freddie was definitely crowned and covered in glory with two very impressive efforts in the 91st and 93^rdminutes. The 4-2 defeat was, of course, disappointing for Watty & Danny, the team and the travelling fans, with goals coming so late in the game. And while the first half was poor on our part, the second half did show that, even in adversity there is fighting spirit within the squad.

We caught up with Danny Bloomfield after the game and he told us, “We should have come away with a minimum of a point, but we didn’t do today what we have been doing in the last few games. We didn’t get tight enough in the right areas. We knew that in the second half they couldn’t play any better but we also knew that we could. And we did. We were always a threat in the second period.”

For Sudbury’s part, Manager Mark Morsley said, “We were always trying to win the game. We were always being positive. Even conceding two goals, as we did, we never gave up. The lads have total belief in each other. I thought we were the better side. It was a good team performance.”

Fortunately, our three recent wins have lifted us away from the danger zone at the foot of the table and we currently sit midway in 10^thspot. Tuesday night sees us host Hadliegh United from The Thurlow Nunn, now with ex Bury Boss Christian Appleford in charge, in the quarter-final tie of the Suffolk Premier Cup. A win on Tuesday would put us in the semi-final draw with the possibility of being able to square up to Stuart Boardley’s Leiston or maybe Lowestoft Town among others. With the final scheduled to be played at Portman Road, this will be a game Watty and Danny will be very keen to win.

Next weekend sees The Seasiders at home to Tilbury before another home match against Barking and the opportunity to consolidate well in The Bostik North as we head towards the run in to the 2018/19 season.

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