East Men’s League

Division One

FELIXSTOWE travelled up to St Ives this week to play a side currently on a six game winning run and in second place in the league. The Seasiders knew they had what it takes to get a result having beaten their opposition earlier in the year at home.

The game started with a high tempo, and was dominated by the home side who maintained the majority of possession. Felixstowe however stood firm and defended superbly, but struggled to make much use of the ball when given a chance to attack.

The Seasiders soaked up a great deal of pressure in their own half, and limited the number of shots on goal, but we’re still thankful to the outstanding Andy ‘Foggy’ Fothergill in goal, who pulled off a number of quality saves to keep the frustrated St Ives attackers at bay.

It was rattling a clearly talented side that proved the key to Felixstowe’s success, as more space began to come the visitor’s way. Paul ‘Penny’ Farthing began to cause problems down the right, and captain Jack Entwistle’s endless running up front started stretching the St Ives defence. This led to the opening goal of the game as Farthing robbed the ball of his marker, and drove into the ‘D’, drawing a foul out of the defence as he looked to pull the ball back for a shot.

Felixstowe’s first short corner was awarded, something the Seasiders knew they would have to take advantage of if they we’re going to get a result. Sure enough the set piece went exactly to plan as Woodhouse dragged the ball to Entwistle on the right hand post who deflected the ball past a helpless keeper.

The goal spurred the visitors on, and they began playing with more freedom and confidence, whilst still defending with determination and desire to maintain their lead. Felixstowe went into the half time break a goal up, and confident they could build on their lead.

Felixstowe started the second half completely differently to the opening stages of the first, and pushed their opposition into making a number of errors by instantly putting pressure on them. The Seasiders were definitely the better side in the opening exchanges, and had a number of attempts on goal without success. At the other end of the pitch the defence were very wary of the threat posed by a very skilful and pacy St Ives forward, and closed him down in numbers to limit his threat. The Felixstowe pressure soon led to a second goal, which was very much deserved due to the work rate of the whole team.

Woodhouse won the ball in midfield, before finding Entwistle up front, who had peeled away from his marker. He drove the ball into the D and drew the keeper, before squaring to his strike partner David Goode, who slap hit the ball into an empty net.

With just under 15 minutes to go Felixstowe decided to sit back and defend their lead, and invited the St Ives team into their half before hitting them on the break. The plan appeared to be working, with St Ives struggling to break down a compact defence, led by Andy Kelcher and James John, and backed up by the marauding Jimmy Walker in defensive midfield. The plan was working well until a very harsh yellow card was shown to Goode as he tried to bring the ball under control from above his head whilst breaking away through on goal. With a two-goal cushion Felixstowe continued to battle away and we’re again thankful to Fothergill who continued to pull off several top class saves. With less than five minutes to go St Ives pulled a goal back. Some good passing around the Felixstowe defensive area led to a pot shot at goal, which flew into the bottom right corner leaving Fothergill no chance, and a nervy final few minutes ahead. Felixstowe refused to share the points however and defended brilliantly up to the final whistle. Hero of the day was Andrew Fothergill in goal, who aside from making superb saves throughout the game, made a last minute match winning save from the St Ives striker who had intercepted a pass and stormed through on goal. A hard fought and deserved win from Felixstowe, who will try to build on this ‘double’ over promotion chasing St Ives, and move up the table and consolidate their position in the league.

Next week Felixstowe entertain Waltham Forest at Orwell High School at 1pm.

Man of the Match – Andrew ‘Foggy’ Fothergill