Bostik North Heybridge Swifts 4 Felixstowe & Walton 2 Despite the impressive Velocity Trophy win midweek against Northwood, everyone at Felixstowe & Walton knew the trip south to Heybridge was going to be an altogether different affair, writes Barry Grossmith.
And so it proved, with the home side coming out 4-2 winners in a match jam-packed full of incident.
The Seasiders lined up with just one change from midweek, seeing Ethan Clarke replacing young Rory Porter wide left.
The opening stages suggested there was little to choose between the two sides with things fairly evenly balanced.
But it was the Swifts who went ahead from the impressive Harrison Chatting on 20 minutes and with Daniel Walker’s effort on the half hour, Felixstowe went in 2-0 down at the break.
The last thing you want early in the second period when you are already two goals down is to concede early on. But when Matthew Price converted from the spot just three minutes after the break, heads seemed to drop and the going got just that little bit tougher.
Seeing Dan Davis receive two yellows in quick succession a few minutes later, only the most optimistic Seasider dreamt of getting back into the game.
With Chatting netting again on 70 minutes, the final scoreline of 4-2 seemed unlikely, but a Jack Ainsley penalty and a converted one-on-one from Miles Powell showed that character does exist within the squad.
Speaking to Seasiders TV, joint-boss Kevin O’Donnell said: “We’re disappointed (obviously) but there are positives to take from this game. We played good football at times and new signing Darren Mills from Coggeshall had a great game when he came on against their two centre halves.” Swifts boss Julian Dicks, meanwhile, said: ”We ended poorly and we have to manage our game better. It wasn’t that convincing.”
Nevertheless, it is the Swifts who move up to fourth spot and it won’t be a surprise if they finish around there come season’s end.
Felixstowe are hoping for good news on new signing Mills’ late injury as they look to take a strong squad to Barking this coming Saturday.
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