As I sit in type this in a warm changing awaiting training it’s hit me, can it really be that we have just 2 games left. How quickly has this season gone? In a blink of an eye we’ve played national league, travelled all over the East and our junior section is doing remarkable well. Last weekend also saw some wonderful results – the Women’s 1s secured a fabulous victory at home to Teddington and we also welcome junior Glading to the club for the first time; days old and he saw daddy Ben and Grandpa Pete win, there’s a super Men’s 5s report below. We must also raise a glass to another club stalwart and club family, the Youngmans. Chopper is a father – calf size still to be measured!

Enjoy the updates, below you’ll hear from M2,3,4,5 who all won and as well as the W1 report I’ve mentioned, the W2 is a belter.

Finally, for anyone who has not seen the coaching update on the website or social media, please take a look – interested parties are coming in which is great.

Juniors Update

U17 County Finals
Congratulations to Ipswich Junior Club Players Sam B, Dylan, Sam L, Rhys, Fraser and Charlie Cooper on their selection for the 2024 Suffolk County U17 Boys Finals Squad. A generally young team of U16 players and below including Fraser and Charlie C who are both U15 and were invited up.

Hertfordshire won the day with the Haileybury home advantage and a very slick and efficient 4 x 1-0 wins against Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex and Suffolk.
Suffolk beat Bedfordshire 3-0, drew with Cambridgeshire and lost 1-0 in very tight games that could easily have gone either way against both Hertfordshire and Essex.
2025 will be an exciting year for this young county team as they develop.

Further well done to Young Umpire Charlie Cooper for officiating in the U17 Girls competition during a very wet and grey morning session. We are very lucky in the East Area to have a strong Young Umpire Scheme. If you are interested in becoming an umpire please let us know and follow East Young Umpires and East Officiating on the regular social media channels @EastYoungUmpire @EastOfficiating

2024 Ipswich School
Good luck to Ipswich School, Mr Gall and his team along with players from our Ipswich Junior Club who are travelling away to face Taunton in the Semi Finals of the U14 Boys Tier 1 ISHC on Wednesday. This is an amazing achievement for the school and another great opportunity for this group of boys who could be bringing back multiple pieces of Silverware this season for School, Club and County.

Finally, this weekend the U10 / U12 boys and girls have their In2 Suffolk hockey championships at Rushmere – good luck to our budding youngsters.

Women’s 1st XI
The Ladies 1s faced Teddington who they vowed at their last meet would…
An interesting start unfolded where the starting whistle was blown at Woodbridge School following an unfortunate concussion in the Men’s 2s game.

Ipswich didn’t let this change of plan upset their focus. They knew what they had to do. The game started with Teddington coming out hard forcing Ipswich to play it out the back. Ipswich managed with absolute composure and gain many metres up the left side. Just missing the last connection Teddington then copying Ipswich to counter up the left. Great defensive work from Ipswich and nullifying the pressure. Ipswich edged their way higher up the pitch to gain the first circle entry of the game but it was Teddington who won the short corner game. No luck for them though. 0-0

Ipswich responded well to the early Teddington possession and regain possession and taking quick ball get the ball over the gain line out the right side. Lots of back and forth in the middle of the pitch but Teddington come out on top and win another in corner. A very fortunate miss in Ipswich’s eyes. A frustrated Teddington side and a sigh of relief for Ipswich. Ipswich worked the ball effortlessly around Teddington’s forwards and breaking lines. Some beautiful connecting play for Ipswich. More corners came for Teddington but still Ipswich repel them again. 0-0 HT

Teddington restart and they get the ball into their attacking circle only to be denied yet again. Ipswich win the ball and work it up the pitch again. Some great end to end play. Ipswich losing ball at the time it counts and Teddington struggling to find a short corner instead of a shot… still goalless game.

Teddington really started to unravel and getting irritated with each other. Ipswich maintained their dominance and pressed hard. Some great tackles made throughout all of the team and everyone making such an impact. Ipswich win their third corner of the game. Knowing their time was running out, Ipswich couldn’t make the final play. That didn’t stop Ipswich from fighting and not let Teddington gain any momentum from it.
2 minutes to go and Ipswich needed to pull something out the bag. Teddington had their chance and now it was Ipswich’s turn. Some frantic play up the pitch but with midfielder, Poppy Dring-Richardson wins Ipswich their final chance. The call was made, Ipswich just had to get the ball in the goal. A save from the keeper kicking it out, an outstanding keep in from POTM, Emma Logan and respond back into the circle. A high ball off Teddington gave Ipswich a second bit of the cherry. Ball injected out, another save from the keeper but this time forward, Taylor Ball half volleys the ball into the net to give Ipswich the win they have been waiting for. Ipswich finally clutch their second win of the season, their first being the first match of the season.

This win for the Ladies 1s is dedicated to our coach, Rixie. Who works so tirelessly to keep the motivation and drive high in the team. She devotes so much time and effort into building such strong habits and lives by her values.

The Ladies 1s face off to top-of-the-league Guildford in their penultimate game for the season. Thanks to the M25 closures, it will be a long day, but nevertheless, can Ipswich use this massive win to produce other results...?

Women’s 2nd XI
Still buzzing from the performance against Bury last weekend the team went into the match against Norwich full of confidence. Unfortunately coach Daley couldn't make the journey up the a140 so Mr Calver stepped in to coordinate the substitutions on what was a lovely sunny spring day. Prior to push back Gigi put her name into the hat early doors for DoD breaking early on the team Ipswich call. The pitch was sticky so the ball did not flow as smoothly as we are used to, however the team quickly found their feet and after 10 mins Ellie scored from a short corner via a light deflection. Within 3 minutes we were 2 up, with Chloe slotting home after excellent pressing in midfield from Wingar and Sexton. We dominated possession, with Ellie, Emma and Beth having little to do, but when called upon they played the ball forward with confidence. On 21 minutes Emily seized on a loose ball in the D to slot home through a wall of defenders. Norwich being pinned back in their 25 struggling to break out. with the team rotation in play, Issy, Laura, Erin and Megan seamlessly took to their positions allowing the gameplay to be maintained. Chloe made it 4 nil not long after. With us cruising our intensity dropped a little with us starting to play at Norwich's level and some of the umpire decisions going against us, we get frustrated. Norwich though created little, with Gigi only having to make the occasional clearance. At the first half drew to an end, Sophie M put her name in the hat for DoD by being green carded for not being 5. We saw out the final minute of the half without incident, despite several short corners having to be defended. It had been a great first half, with the match won in the first 24 mins. The front 3 of Emilia, Emily and Chloe, aided by Issy aided had given the defence a torrid time, and the midfield resolute.

At half time Beth reminded us to play our game, not give lazy passes and use the width of the pitch as Sophie S had been in so much space at times but had not been found.
The second half started with Mr Calver putting his name forward for DoD, with only 9 players on the pitjc, while Sophie saw out the final minute of her card. It brightly for Norwich with them gaining a number of short corners, however we quickly re-established our dominance and control with Sophie S scoring from a short corner to make it 5. At this point we decided to to rotate Emma, Beth and Ellie to give them a rest and allow Megan and Erin to develop their skills with Bennie expertly guiding them. A few minutes later Emilia scored a goal her performance deserved with a deflection following a shot from Sophie S after a short corner. Emily (POTM) went close to making it 7, with skillful play at the top of the D, creating some space before lashing a powerful shot just wide of the post. The final 15 or so minutes went without incident other than a pass from Wingar to Beth that went slightly wide of her all the way back to Gigi who skillfully kicked the ball back to our midfield while attackers beared down on her. Our players rotating and playing in a variety of different positions and the younger players given control over short corners and trying some different combinations. All in all an excellent team performance with everyone playing at the top of their game.

Women’s 3rd XI – No report submitted.

Women’s 4th XI– No report submitted.

Women’s 5th XI
We had an end to end game. We fought hard and went 2-0 up. However, Bury, with their coach on the sidelines kept changing their shape and ran out winners 5-3. We have come such a long way this season and everyone played well and we scored goals!!?
Excellent teamwork and I am proud to be part of this team /squad ??

Men’s 1st XI L1-6 – no report submitted.

Men’s 2nd XI W2-1
A slightly warmer day than recent games lay ahead for our 16 man strong men twos as they looked to gain points at home to further their campaign. The whistle blew at 12:00 and the game was underway with Ipswich looking to apply pressure early and produce outcomes with the experienced forward line of Foxy Windy and Wardy. What then proceeded was 25 minutes of Ipswich predominantly in Nomads half but without the eye for goal, and the Nomad opposition counterattacking when the chances arose. A short corner which came off of the keepers pads fell perfectly for DoD Elliot Steele who proceeded to rattle it off the post.

The score remained 0-0 for the majority of the half until the last 5 minutes when a perfect strike to the back post from Windy lead to MoM Pete (Dr Baler) Bale ensuring the same was goal bound with a neat back post deflection. 1-0 to Ipswich. The second half was in many ways similar to the first. Back and forth with Nomads looking to counter attack fast putting the defence lead by captain J.C to work. The cat like reflexes of the Nomad keeper lead to Wardy being denied his usual goal, and lead to frustration through the Ipswich team. A counter attack from the Nomad team after a broken down short corner left the Ipswich team out of position and a lucky chip put the ball over Jez and onto a flying stick. 1-1.After a few attacks on goal, leading to some more great saves from the Nomad keeper (of which Wardy was not best pleased) and a perfectly placed through ball from Aiden Griggs being slipped just passed the keeper, the goal Ipswich were waiting for finally came. A strong challenge by DoD Elliot Steele lead to him driving through the Nomad line at pace and past the final defender, to then hit the ball home in the bottom corner for the victory. An unfortunate event had occurred in the build up leaving a Nomad player on the floor and later being taken to hospital in an ambulance. Something we hope does not happen during our amazing sport and we send our best wishes to him, hoping he makes a full recovery.The game finished 2-1 giving Ipswich the 3 points they were looking for going into their next fixture, away to Norwich City 2’s.

MoM - Pete Bale
DoD - Elliot Steele
Honourable mentions to (‘no mistakes’ J.C and ‘midfield magic’ Max)

Men’s 3rd XI W5-0 w/o

Men’s 4th XI
M4 travelled with bare 11 to Norwich City and in the basking sunshine got a decent 2-1 win. First half was not the best show case for Ipswich as ball pace was lacking a little, both teams often giving the ball away cheaply but neither capitalising, so was very much end to end.

The only goal in the first half was from one of the two techniques that City repetitively used, either an aerial or a crash ball. This time it was a crash ball from about 25yrds out - Gav the Ipswich keeper shouted “crash ball, leave it” only to then realise an attacker was right in front of him who simply deflected it in. Our defence taking direction from the goalkeeper couldn’t react to the unusual call. DOD moment!!! 1-0 at half time to City.
After a half time talk that consisted of better movement, better ball pace and lets just give an extra 10% things started to click for Ipswich. A number of triangular passes and moves down both sides of the pitch were working well and Ed D almost got a well worked goal after Will and Ant interchanged passes a couple of times, passed to Ed who narrowly missed. Next was a long ball into Citys D only for Ant to pop up and deflect it past the keeper who had no chance. 1-1.

5 mins later after more dominant pressure by Ipswich we gained a short by Johnny Hughes. Langers stepped up and hit the ball sweetly that was reminiscent of Cooky from 2 seasons ago - it hit the backboard like a bullet. 2-1 Ipswich. Multiple other chances went begging by Ipswich but City didn’t have much left except for defending so posed no real threat. The game was seen out as a 2-1 victory.

Two games left - Dereham and Ipswich 3s. The harder of the two games being Dereham at Tudd Rd next week.

Men’s 5th XI
Ipswich 5’s entertained A Colchester’s 4th team who came to TR looking for a win to boost their promotion push. With a game in hand, a win and a victory next week against current second place Cranes would put them in a comfortable second place ahead of them.
Ipswich started with “new dad” Ben Glading playing alongside his father “Grandad” Peter Glading, who had welcomed young Freddy earlier this week. Ipswich also had a debutant in goal Duncan Mcallum who has recently joined from Harleston and a much welcomed return for Chris Palmer who has been injured most of the season. A much needed cool head in midfield.

The match started with Ipswich dominating possession, creating chances with an early goal in the 9th minute from new dad Ben Glading, a scramble in the D but Ben hitting the ball cleanly in the end left the Colchester keeper no chance, 1-0. Colchester had some very good and young players whose counter attacks caused the Ipswich defence problems throughout the match. Unfortunately, their best player had to go off injured when a ball hit his knee at full pace during this period, ouch!
With the first half ending, Ipswich where holding on with Colchester having the majority of the chances with their promotion ambitions in mind with debutant Duncan coming Ipswich’s rescue with some good saves.

With the first half nearing it’s close, a quick Ipswich break led to a penalty corner, with a converted goal from…. new dad Ben Glading, 2-0. With a few wise words and adjustments at half time, the Ipswich defence looked more solid in the second half and Colchester came out a bit deflated having gone in 2-0 down. The best 2 chances fell to Peter “grandad” Glading, with good saves from the Colchester keeper. Just think dad and grandad scoring in the same match, surely would have been a world record? The Ipswich defence was also bolstered by the appearance of Ian Taylor who, having been selected for the squad, thought the match was at Colchester. Should have gone to specsavers? Anyway he stepped in at the end and help steady the ship at the back.

A great performance and against a Colchester team who beat Ipswich 6-0 at the beginning of the season, showing improvement across the team. Big shout out to Duncan on his first game for the 5’s, a special call out for Chris P for a commanding game in the centre of midfield, but man of the match has to go to the new Dad Ben Glading, who scored 2 goals.