Suffolk & Ipswich League

Morrison Freight Cup 2nd Round

Saturday 30th December 2023

Kick Off 13.30 Actual 13.36

Bacton United ‘89 0 Haughley United 5, attendance 62

19’ 0-1

22’ 0-2

26’ 0-3

32’ 0-4

51’ 0-5 (pen)

@ Brickwall Meadow

Broad Road (B1113)

Bacton

IP14 4HR

No Admission or Programme.

For the second successive Saturday I did a game in the Suffolk & Ipswich League. Again, no problems weather wise and as at last week’s game, the home club had advertised the match on social media using the word ‘carpet’ to describe the pitch, so it was a pretty safe bet that it would go ahead okay. It was windy, but at least the little rain we had was nothing more than squally and had stopped before kick off.

The Morrison Freight Cup is played for by teams in the top three divisions, with this being 5th in Division 1 versus 13th in the Senior Division. It looked like the perfect opportunity for a cup upset, but turned out to be nothing of the sort. Haughley opened the scoring after nineteen minutes, when a cross from the left was played back across the six yard box for an easy side footed finish. Four minutes later it was 0-2, courtesy of an angled shot into the far corner, before goal number three arrived when the ‘keeper fumbled a 30 yard free kick that just crossed the line a few minutes later. We were hardly past the half hour mark when it was 0-4, this time scoring with an angled shot into the bottom corner after a first effort was only partially blocked. An early second half penalty, awarded for handball, rounded off the scoring in what turned out to be a very comfortable win for the visitors.

There are two pitches here, both running lengthways away from the clubhouse. Pitch 2 is to the right and has a pair of wooden dugouts on the far side. The main pitch, more or less in front of the clubhouse, is only accessible to spectators behind the near goal end and along the side next to the other pitch. It is roped on these sides and there are a pair of plastic dugouts on the left hand side. The far goal end has high netting behind and backs on to the railway line, which had frequent trains passing by during the game.

So, that rounds off 2023 for me. 184 previously unvisited grounds done, the majority of which were in the U.K. (135 England, 15 Scotland, 11 Wales and 1 Northern Ireland) as well as 11 in Spain, 10 in Portugal and 1 in Italy. Yet another year passes where Christmas Day remains as the only date in a calendar year that I’ve yet to see a game on.