GRUNDISBURGH’S Mickey Squirrell has expressed his disappointment at Saturday’s Suffolk Senior Cup semi-final tie against Whitton United taking place outside Ipswich.

Squirrell, who is joint manager, said he expects the size of the crowd to suffer because the tie is taking place at Debenham.

He said: “It makes perfect sense that whoever Long Melford were drawn against that their tie should be staged at Hadleigh United, but we were surprised to find we were playing at Debenham.

“It is a shame because Grundisburgh is only a few miles out of Ipswich and Whitton is on the outskirts of town.

“I don’t think there will be such a big crowd at Debenham, whereas if the match had been played in Ipswich I think that more spectators would have been inclined to come and watch.

“Ipswich Wanderers, Ransomes or Bourne Vale would have all been good venues in Ipswich with good surfaces to play on.

“I am a little disappointed with the choice of venue because I am led to believe the pitch at Debenham is not in good condition at the moment, and they also had a game there on Tuesday night.

“Both ourselves and Whitton contacted Suffolk FA to see if they could move the tie, but were told it was too late.

“However, the county FA did say that they will try to consult the clubs involved in the future before allocating the ties.

“To their credit, Suffolk FA are prepared to listen to what the clubs now have to say.”

Jairo Marin, Suffolk FA football services manager, said: “Whilst it would have been preferable for the distance to the neutral venue to have been negligible, it is worth noting that the journey that Grundisburgh will make to Debenham is less than their average away fixture in the SIL.

“When assigning venues for the semi final ties, Suffolk FA worked together with the SIL and Ridgeons Leagues where consideration was given not only to location, venues, ground facilities but also minimal disruption to respective league programmes.”