Felixstowe & Walton United FC

When you hear people shouting, “We want nine, we want nine,” you know someone is very happy. And on Wednesday night I’m afraid that wasn’t the Long Melford fans. It was a bunch of joyful travelling Seasiders who had just seen Joe Francis get on the scoresheet to give Felixstowe an 8-1 lead away at Stoneylands in the Suffolk Premier Cup.

The game started with Sam Ford first hitting the bar and converting from the rebound and then delightfully curling a free kick from just outside the box into the top right-hand corner. Felixstowe were two up after just 10 minutes. This was tough for Long Melford to take considering they had lost 6-0 a few days earlier to Woodbridge in the league. These two defeats for the Thurlow Nunn side came after they had chalked up four wins on the bounce.

Back to the game itself and Sam Ford helped the Seasiders go into the half-time break with a comfortable 3-goal lead. If truth be told, it was clear to see that there was a marked difference between the two sides and the gulf between The Bostik North and The Thurlow Nunn.

It’s nice to see someone from your own team come away with a hat trick. But to see two of your side come away with hat tricks is something special indeed. A 52^ndminute penalty and another two goals on 72 and 74 minutes for Jack Ainsley really put the game to bed. Now it’s sometimes difficult not to exaggerate when writing a report saying how far out a shot came from. But here there is no exaggeration. Jack’s lob came from the half-way line…well almost anyway! This was the third time Jack Ainsley has tried to lob the opposing goalkeeper. Once he hit the post and this time there was no mistake.

To score eight and not see Miles Powell or Joe Francis score is unthinkable. Fortunately both obliged with late goals, after Will Wingfield had pulled one back for Long Melford from the penalty spot on 79 minutes.

It may be the case that a certain amount of empathy and feeling sorry for the opposition applies when there’s a convincing scoreline like 8-1, but some people, nevertheless are never happy. Some people really did want nine.

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