Captains Column

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to Catons Lane for todays Ridgeons League Division 1 fixture against Stowarket Town FC.

Our visitors this afternoon have enjoyed a great start to the season and are sitting near the top of the table so we will have to be at our best today to gain some threepoints. We always have closely fought encounters against Stowmarket and I am sure today will be no exception.

Over the past few weeks we have been involved in FA Cup and FA Vase fixtures. After defeating Mauritius Sports of the Essex Senior league we entertained Ryman league side Gt Wakering Rovers here at the Lane on Saturday 28th August.

In a closely fought encounter we were winning 1-0 with 10 minutes to go before Gt Wakering got their equaliser meaning we settled for a replay at Southend on the Tuesday night. Again another close game followed but after gifting our opponents some sloppy goals we were defeated 3-1.

The result was difficult to take as I feel we have more than enough ability within our squad to have beaten our “big time” opponents. However it was a chance not taken and we left knowing we had let our chance of progressing in the competition slip away.

After the ups and downs of our games against Gt Wakering we were back in cup action last Saturday travelling up to Buckingham Town in the opening round of the FA Vase. On a warm afternoon we certainly did not pick the best of days for travel arrangements with the majority of the squad not reaching the home sides ground until 15 minutes before the kick off.
Despite the delayed start we settled into the game after the opening exchanges and played some good football.

I thought we looked dangerous every time we went forward and but for some better finishing we could have been a few goals up by half time. To give Buckingham credit they worked hard and huffed and puffed throughout but I never really felt in any danger of conceding a goal at any time during the game and we left with a 1-0 victory.

After the two games we had played against Gt Wakering previously in the week, I felt we seemed a little bit short of our usual sharpness but all the while doing enough to win the game. The positives from the game were the fact we had bounced back from our FA Cup disappointment and the return to first team action for Goalkeeper Dave Pledger who was as compossed as ever.

Young striker Ross Laird also got another appearance under his belt to add to his experience so it was a good day for the team all round.
With regards to our league campaign, we defeated Fakenham Town here on Saturday 21st August 2-1 in a game we controlled from start to finish. After a good performance we conceded a penalty in injury time to make the score look closer than the game itself was.

It is important for us in the next few weeks to get our league campaign started again and get some points on the board as soon as possible to state our intentions within this division.


Enjoy the game and Thanks for your continued support.

All the best

Tommy B