Quite an impressive weekend all round! 11 adult teams took the field on Saturday and 4 U12 teams on Sunday, 2 U11 teams on Saturday and U14 and U16 XIs. This weekend is equally as manic as our juniors are putting out about 10 teams on Sunday, including A/B teams in all categories. The challenge is, as we grow rapidly, we’re like a swan on water, serene on top but frenetic underneath! I’ve been introduced to a volunteering app used by sailing clubs that asks all members to commit to (perhaps) 2 volunteering sessions each season – that could be 2 Sunday sessions with juniors or it could be being responsible for tying the fence to stop balls coming through, sorting plants upstairs, clearing out a cupboard, or painting a door! Whatever, it might be, if we don’t make a shift then the people that captain us, organise us, coach us, cook for us, serve us and open and lock up for us will go ‘pop’. If you’ve any ideas my door is open as is anyone on the committee or your captains – this could even be team based – whatever we do, we need a bit of a shift here as our growth is one thing that seems to be constant!

Back to the pitch, there were some impressive results for M1/W1 last week with big home victories, all reports submitted are below.

Men’s 4th XI
The sun shone, The Whistle blew….
Dereham scored
Dereham scored
Dereham Scored

Some great saves by Big Gav in goal else the first half would’ve been worse. Half time & Ips 3 nil down. Some half time positional changes made a huge difference with Tommy G and Alisdair moving more into there natural positions. A Sampo short corner passed the Dereham defence only to miss wide of the post by mm's

Dereham scored. Ant got a green card !!
Dereham scoredDebut Frank had a storming game. He threatened Derehams clean sheet so much they decided to hit him with a stick on the hand and neutralise the threat mid way through the final quarter ! Ips were unlucky not to find the net especially with a much improved 2nd half but a strong Dereham at home with a well worked central trio inflicted the damage.

Final Whistle! Ips lost 5 nil. Next week is a home game to UEA 3

Men’s 2nd XI
The 2s travelled to IES for their 2nd derby match in 2 weeks. Once everyone had turned up and got white socks on (Aiden and Elliot say thank you Mrs. Douse) the boys took to the pitch with instructions to pass the ball. In spells during the first half the passing was there with Will, Elliot and James linking well in midfield. But, IES had a threat on the break and started to press us aggressively. IES took the lead from a short and then quickly got a 2nd from a counter.

With a half time talk that reiterated the need to pass and move the 2s dominated the 2nd half. Aidan showed great energy in midfield and the youthful forward line (Coops and Ben) along with MOM Windy started cutting through IES drawing some great saves from their keeper. Ipswich got a goal back wheb Windy tapped in from a short before drawing level when Aidan roofed a flick. IES tried to pressure Ipswich's back line but Austin and Aiden used their aerials to good effect and Trembath and JC stood firm in defence. With time ticking away Ipswich were looking to be positive but an IES counter saw them win a short, the whistle went and frustratingly IES scored from the short to snatch victory. Frustrating, but if the team play consistently at the level of their 2nd half performance then the wins will start to flow.

Men's 6th XI
Another fantastic game for the 6s with a great blend of up and coming young talent, and older wiser and more experienced players.

Ipswich had the lines share of territory and possession, and played some really nice looking hockey. Sadly, we were unable to capitalise. Magpies had only a few chances but managed to score in the final seconds with a PC. Gutted but proud.

Women’s 1st XI
Back to back wins. The beginning’s of a habit.

Ipswich hosted Norwich City on the sunny Saturday afternoon at Tudderham Road. Ipswich started with some middle pitch play and some 50/50 balls to hunt down. A short lived circle entry from Norwich allowed Ipswich to move the ball well and carry without much pressure. Finding the spaces and attacking down the right, an opportunity created and upgraded. A strike from Lizzy Wheelhouse found PTOM, Jas Vincent for the first of her 3 goals of the game.

More possession from Ipswich in the Norwich half and some close chances came. Ipswich then got themselves on the back foot of a few counter attacks from Norwich. Quickly readjusted and Ipswich find their first short corner opportunity. Unfortunately still no luck from a corner yet. Norwich found a way out the back and up the pitch to equalise the game, with an easily-preventable goal. Ipswich didn’t panic though and still managed to keep the pressure on Norwich. Another few corners won but not converted.

A few more wobbly moments and a couple of miscommunications through the lines were quickly rectified at the half time changeover. Ipswich came out as determined and with a super confident restart won them the first of a cascade of re-awarded short corners. Norwich won the possession back and worked it into Ipswich half. Then Ipswich down to 10 and facing their first of only two short corner defence. Defending it smoothly, Ipswich then worked it back up the pitch. Defender Megan Palmer running 75% of the pitch created Jas’ second goal of the game. 2-1 up. Not much longer after Ipswich win another corner and more opportunity to score, but still missing the final execution. Plenty of lovely passing play from defenders Bea Noordhuis, Keisha H-B and Emma Logan allowed Ipswich to apply further pressure to Norwich. And finally Ipswich executed the final element and scored their first goal from a short corner from Sophie Sexton!

More chances came from Ipswich with all the team having an impact in it. Some lovely work from centre half’s Captain, Emma Rix and the skilful Poppy Dring-Richardson in the middle. Soon after, Jas then finds her third goal and puts Ipswich up 4-1! From the restart Ipswich face their second defensive corner and with a clean kick from GK Ali Barham, Ipswich were able to respond by winning an attacking corner. Shortly after comes another and Ipswich converts another corner. This time from India Goodman. Ipswich make it 5-1 just before the final whistle. A confident performance for the girls. Huge positives from this week;

First hatrick for the Ladies 1 in years!! Goals from PCA!
Backed up last week’s win with another!
Current top of the league!

Lastly, a shout out to our GK Ali, who travels to South Africa for the Masters World Cup this week! Massive GOOD LUCK! Ipswich head onto the road for their next match against St Albans 2s! More evolving to be done but the positivity grows!

Men’s 5th XI
Ipswich 5s gave another gritty performance at Tuddenham Road against Sudbury 3s who have maximum points from the first couple of games.Ipswich started confidently and the help of coach Felix Fitch and assistant coach Sarah Logan was invaluable. Ipswich held Sudbury 3s until very late in the first half when they took the lead. Ipswich attacked well in the first half with some good runs from Chantelle Richards and young keeper Isla Gillingham made several good saves.In the second half, Ipswich ran out of steam despite the efforts of most improved players Lucy Austin and Laura Alyce. Sudbury went further ahead from a well taken penalty corners, and scored another goal a few minutes later. The Ipswich defence held fast with Allison Glading making a superb goal line clearance and then batted the ball off the back line.Man of the Match Clare Barstow covered every inch of the pitch and made many interceptions. The 5s worked hard throughout the game and confidence is building week on week.

Women’s 3rd XI
It was a bright autumnal morning in Sudbury and the 3’s were ready to battle once again, well nearly all, I blame my father for the location confusion. The game started and we were on the back foot with Sudbury trying to dominate. We tried to fend them off but they kept coming and unfortunately found the net.

We tried to get our composure back but we managed to find their players with our passes more frequently than our own. The midfield were chasing shadows at times, but we kept running. But once again we allowed their players too much space and time and the inevitable happened, 2-0. We re-grouped and had a great chance to pull one back, denied by the post.

Half-time came and words were said. But at the restart, the team continued to get over run in the middle, Sudbury creating chances and shorts, Lara and her defence defended valiantly to repel their attacks. Oh no, goal number 3… or was it? Up comes the umpire from the other end to rule it out. With this, we went for it couple of attacks later and with time nearly up, we gained a short corner, Min with the injection and up steps SP. Bang, nothing was stopping that! 2-1. Shortly after, the whistle went. With lessons to learn we go into the next week’s home derby with our very own 4s. POM, Lara our solid GK, DOD, Pheobe, thanks for the match report!