Another packed weekend. The boys U12s finished in 3rd place in East Tier 1, the Girls U12s runner up in East Tier 2 and the boys U16s won East Tier 1. What an achievement for a very talented group. What pleases me most is the way we play and the attitude we have across our juniors at the club. We are also building an incredibly strong base for the future.

I'm also delighted to say that Oli Pipe's blue army keep marching on. The Men's 3s have secured back to back promotions which means the 2s and 3s will be in the same league next year (the Men's 2s sorted their wobbles and are comfortably safe now). Excellent report below from the 3s. The Women's 3s also won a crucial game and go into next weekend with a simple equation - win and they win their league! What a show from them and again, another excellent report below. The Men's 1s also found a scribe and have a report below from a belting away win, secured after being 0-3 after 8 minutes!

Women's 3s
In what was a must win game in the hunt for promotion, we took on Fram with some new faces in our midst. And it was a new face, but an Ipswich OG from her school days, who dribbled up the pitch and pretty much past the keeper to score our first goal, none other than gk by trade, Tabby C. As the game unfolded, so did some composure in our players, frustrated by a couple of umpire decisions. This lead to a green card and short corner just before half time which luckily Fram could not convert. The second half started and once we were back up to full strength, some delightful passing through the middle and releasing the forwards was rewarded with a fabulous assist from Daley to Summer who first time hit the ball past the stranded keeper. What followed was another period of Fram pressure, with both our captain and side line manager being spoken to by the umpires, warned to keep a lid on it. That we did and shared most of the DoD votes as a result. We managed to grind out the last few minutes and hold onto a hard fought but deserved win and we remain top of the league with one match to go. MoM was fittingly voted Lorraine for her hard work in centre mid, accurate distribution and calmness on the ball.

Men's 3s
With only a point required to secure promotion Ipswich travelled to Colchester confident that a job could be done, with Colchester languishing 3rd from bottom in the table. Perhaps this didn't hold the appropriate motivation as it turned out to be a closer and more stressful game than we'd expected.Taking the lead from our second penalty corner with TPF rocketing a flick in at the far post. At times we linked well to create chances but Colchester thwarted our attempts with solid goal keeping and dogged defence. A foray into the right of our D caught us napping, not expecting the talent of the Colchester centre forward, and we were picking the ball out of the back of the net. 1-1 at half time.Ipswich took the lead with a penalty corner rebound being fired home by Sam E. We also won a penalty flick which Sam B confidently stepped up to take, I can't remember whether this was before or after our second goal, but unfortunately Sam uncharacteristically pulled the shot wide. Ipswich then managed to do our best to give Colchester a chance with several poor passes straight to their sticks. Fortunately Fraser was up to the task and kept out the ensuing shots on target.I think we can safely say that the final whistle couldn't come quick enough, but it did without any further goals, so not a vintage performance but another win and PROMOTION SECURED! Well done.While as a team it wasn't our best several performances shone enough to get Motm votes with Jake winning it this week for solid defence and "keeping the wheels on".

Mentions for Josh on his debut, TPF for that first goal and Fraser at the other end for doing what was needed when it mattered.A two horse race for Dotd between the Sam's, but taking the wooden spoon this week is Sam E for clearly feeling guilty about his goal and trying to help Colchester score one back with not one but two blind reverse tap passes straight to the forwards!It's the last game next week with East Coast at home - let's have a better performance that we can take pride in as a end to another successful season. You never know, Exiles might drop points to Felixstowe 2s and leave the title open for us as we're only one point behind.

Men's 1s
In the penultimate game of the season, Ipswich Men’s 1s made the trip down to the Deep South, full of optimism for what, on paper, looked like a routine fixture. However, history has shown that games against Old Southendians rarely pass without goals, drama, injuries, and, on this occasion, an award-winning lapse in verbal judgment.

Coach Foxy had one key message before the game: start well. Determined to follow orders, the team engaged in a highly technical five-minute warm-up of “keep the cone away from Dyksey” before taking to the pitch, fully focused on avoiding an early collapse.Unfortunately, some traditions are hard to break. Ipswich found themselves 3-0 down within the first ten minutes, conceding from what seemed to be Southend’s first meaningful attack and following it up with two more before the bench could even make a rotation. However, this was familiar territory, and, given the team’s track record of comebacks this season, there was little cause for panic.Sure enough, Ipswich responded. A well-worked move through the midfield led to a penalty corner, which was dispatched with precision. Moments later, another counterattack resulted in a short corner, and after the initial save, Vice-Captain Sam Lyne was on hand to fire home the rebound.

At 3-2, Ipswich had all the momentum heading into halftime. Some animated words from Foxy and Owen ensured the team came out for the second half with the same energy. The attacking combinations of Sean Collins, Tom Conway, and Sam Lyne continued to cause problems, leading to another flurry of short corners. Ipswich converted to take the lead for the first time at 4-3, before Sam Lyne produced a moment of individual brilliance—picking up the ball in his own half, gliding past half the Southend team, and hammering a backhand into the bottom corner. 5-3 Ipswich. Another penalty corner conversion extended the lead to 6-3, leaving the visitors in control for the final 15 minutes.From there, the game took a chaotic turn. Fatigue set in, leading to a series of questionable decisions from both players and umpires alike. Southend pulled a goal back from a penalty corner, though the most bizarre moment came courtesy of Ipswich’s Benjamin Dykes, who conceded a short corner by shouting as the attacker took his shot—a decision that, upon later rulebook consultation, appeared to be technically correct but remains one of the more unusual moments of the season.The final whistle blew at 6-4, securing another win for Ipswich ahead of their last game against a “robust” Letchworth side.

Dod....As always, there were several contenders for DOD, but this week’s award was a landslide victory. In an ill-advised exchange with an opposition player, one Ipswich player (who shall remain nameless, but let’s just say he won’t be handling media relations anytime soon) made a comment a while meant as a lighthearted quip a valuable lesson was learned: sometimes, silence is the best defence.

Despite the off-field drama, Ipswich march on with another win under their belt and their sights set on finishing the season on a high.

Up the Blues.