Blues 6 Ipswich Town U18's 3

Ipswich made the journey down to Victory Road on what was very wet Tuesday night, bringing a very Youthful side with them writes Ollie Fairs. Glenn Driver put out a heavily changed team from the eleven that started the game against Chippenham on Saturday with Beckwith, Saker, Hutchings, Finch and Francis coming in. Notable absentees were goalkeeper Jacob Marsden who was not available for selection and club captain Tom Bullard after he suffered a compressed fracture to his cheekbone on the weekend. If previous encounters were anything to go by then this would be a game filled with goals and it certainly delivered. The game did not start as Leiston would have hoped however with the young Ipswich Town side taking the lead after Leiston keeper Charlie Beckwith came out to claim the ball but could only parry it to Declan Daniels who headed into an empty net to put the visitors ahead. The Blues looked to get back level again in no time and soon found themselves doing just that when Christy Finch picked up the ball on the edge of the box and fired his shot hard and low which Ipswich keeper Nick Hayes managed to get fingertips too but could not stop it from going in off the inside of the post to tie the scores up again after 25 mins. Both teams continued to press trying to get the goal they needed to get in front and it was Leiston who managed to get it in the 38th minute when they put together a classy passing move down the left wing which eventually saw Joe Francis find himself in acres of space at the back post allowing him to easily tap in a cut back from Byron Lawrence. Leiston then managed to double their advantage going into the break when Jake Hutchings got on the end of a swinging corner to head home and put his name on the scoresheet for the first time in his Leiston career. The start of the second half was a frantic affair with both teams making fast starts out of the blocks. It was Ipswich who made the better start though when a magnificent cross from the bi-line was headed in at the back post by Corrie Ndaba to reduce Leiston’s lead to just one goal after 4 minutes of the second half. This goal appeared to give the young Ipswich side the confidence to try and get back into the game but it also gave Leiston the incentive to try and restore their two goal cushion. This resulted in 10 minutes of exhilarating, high paced, end to end football with both teams looking as if they would score every time they went forward. Either team was bound to convert one of the chances they had and when a deflected shot from Joe Francis fell to Matt Blake he made no mistake in volleying the ball into the back of the Ipswich net putting the Blues 4-2 to the good after just 56 minutes of the game. But still, even after the sixth goal of the game both teams continued to try and push forward and create chances whenever possible, one of the more spectacular chances came from Ipswich’s Steven Cahill when he hit a thunderous volley from the edge of the box that Charlie Beckwith did well to tip onto the crossbar and deny what would have been the best goal of the game by far. Just six minutes after scoring their fourth Leiston managed to get a fifth when Jake Hutchings once again found himself free in the box and after Jack Ainsley floated a delicate ball to the back post, headed in his second of the game and sealed the game for Leiston. The scoring was not done there though as in the 81st minute Ipswich managed to score their third after Ben Folami bent the ball delightfully into the far corner of the goal leaving the Leiston keeper with no chance. Leiston’s final goal of the game left the 200 people in attended deliberating who had actually scored it when a corner came in and appeared to go in off the back of an orange shirt but Jake Hutchings did not hesitate in claiming it as his third goal of the evening and the tannoy confirmed that he had completed his hat-trick with just 5 minutes of the game to go. Five minutes later the Referee blew his whistle and brought this nine goal thriller to an end and confirmed Leiston’s place in the semi-finals of the Suffolk FA Premier Cup in the process.

FT - Blues 6 Ipswich Town U18's 3

Blues - Beckwith, Saker (Groom 79 mins), Dunbar, Ainsley, Jefford, Hutchings, Lawrence, Heath, Blake (Ottley-Gooch 63 mins), Finch, Francis (Pelling 69 mins). Subs not used - Blades and Brothers.

Ipswich Town U18's - Hayes, Salaudeen (McGavin 66 mins), Ndaba, Meldrum, Cathline, Webber, Wilton (Cahill 46 mins), Blanchfield, Daniels, McKendry (Clements 74 mins), Folami. Subs not used - Hughes and Wright.

Match Sponsor SEAX VAPOURIUM Man of the Match - Jake Hutchings

Attendance - 200