Blues fans: We NEED you!

Elvin King

NEEDHAM Market chairman David Bugg today appealed to Ipswich Town fans to roar his Ridgeons League team on to Wembley Stadium.

Needham play favourites Chalfont St Peter at Bloomfields on Saturday (kick-off 3pm) in an FA Vase quarter-final tie.

And Bugg feels that a large partisan crowd can give his side the edge.

“Ipswich Town are playing Preston in the north west of England, and if Blues fans not making that long journey want to see a passionate non-league game they should look no further than Bloomfields,” said Bugg.

“Like all Vase games at this stage the match will be tension-filled and evenly balanced.

“Having an extra man on the touchlines could give us the edge.

“We are just ten minutes down the road and fans can get the game and a pint for less than a tenner.”

Needham reached the semi-finals last season before losing to eventual winners Kirkham and Wesham, and they can be guaranteed a good support at Wembley if they did go one better this term.

When Sudbury Town reached Wembley in 1989 they had around 15,000 cheering them on from this part of the world in their 1-1 draw against Tamworth.

And many south Suffolk folk would buy in to the idea of visiting the 'new' Wembley for the first time - hoping that Ipswich Town may follow in the Championship play-off final at the end of May.

“We would hope to get good support at Wembley,” added Bugg. “But we are certainly not counting our chickens yet.

“There were plenty of tears last year when we lost at the final hurdle and we know how difficult it is to reach Wembley. And we would appreciate - with Ipswich Town being away - some extra help this weekend.”

Needham beat AFC Fylde (formerly Kirkham and Wesham) earlier in this season's Vase, and Danny Laws' side that includes ex-Town man Kevin Horlock now have another stiff task on their hands.

Prize money for beating Chalfort from the FA is �5,000, but with the referee and one of his assistants coming from Derby it costs Needham a considerable sum to stage the game.