ED Upson has no gripe with then-manager Roy Keane for releasing him from Ipswich Town, his boyhood club, back in the summer of 2010.

ED Upson has no gripe with then-manager Roy Keane for releasing him from Ipswich Town, his boyhood club, back in the summer of 2010.

In fact, Bury St Edmunds-born Upson insists that Keane’s choice to let him go has been “one of the best decisions” of his still fledgling career.

Midfielder Upson will be back in East Anglia tomorrow, in the colours of Yeovil Town, for a League One clash at Colchester United.

It is more than six years since the then little-known 15-year-old was the toast of Portman Road when netting the winner in Ipswich Town’s FA Youth Cup Final triumph over Southampton.

Summoned from his classroom at King Edward VI School in Bury, due to a spate of injuries and illness in the squad, Upson was unleashed as an extra-time substitute to volley home the winner in a 1-0 victory on the night, and a 3-2 aggregate triumph.

Like every other member of that youth team squad, Upson has long since left Town. But the down-to-earth 21-year-old has no regrets.

“I enjoyed my time at Ipswich, but it was frustrating not to get the opportunities that I had wanted,” admitted Upson, who never made a league appearance for Town.

“I had a couple of games in the Carling Cup, but I was impatient for more.

“However, it was really time for me to move on, I knew that, and so did the manger at the time, Roy Keane.

“He chose to release me, and I have no gripe with him. It was probably the best decision all round, for me to move on with my career.

“Sometimes you just need to kick-start your career at another club.”