TWO of Suffolk’s most successful non-league sides, with rich veins of history, Leiston and AFC Sudbury, clash at Victory Road on Tuesday night, 7.45pm kick off in a Southern League fixture.

Along with Lowestoft Town, Bury Town and more recently Needham Market, Leiston and Sudbury (Town/Wanderers) now AFC Sudbury, have been pivotal in the strength of non-league football in Suffolk for many years.

Formed in 1885, Sudbury Town were a successful side, reaching the FA Vase final at Wembley Stadium in 1989, losing after a replay at Peterborough to Tamworth. When the two Sudbury clubs of Town and Wanderers merged in 1999, AFC Sudbury, as they became known, enjoyed even more success, winning the ECL Premier title five times in the 2000s.
With promotion not automatic back then, some felt the West Suffolk side should have moved up the pyramid sooner than they did, but they had already tasted life at a higher level plus, they wanted to get their hands on the FA Vase. Unfortunately, they suffered final heartache three times in the 2000s. In 2006 they eventually did take that promotion to Step Four.

Leiston, formed five years earlier than Sudbury Town, in 1880, never faced Sudbury Wanderers in a competitive fixture, but they did meet Sudbury Town on numerous occasions before the merger, the first one dating back almost 130 years. That was in a Suffolk Junior Cup match in March 1895 at Portman Road, Leiston winning 2-0 courtesy of two G. Read second half goals.

THE WEEK AHEAD AT VICTORY ROAD

It was 11 years later before the two sides met again, this time a first-ever league encounter in the SE Anglian League on 5th January 1907, Leiston winning 5-0 on the Recreation Ground, Sudbury winning the reverse fixture 2-1. Sudbury Town held the upper hand over Leiston, one match inflicting Leiston’s heaviest defeat in the FA Cup back in September 1955 to the tune of 14-1.

It was more than 25 years later the sides met again, Leiston visiting the Priory Stadium in the 1980’s, facing not the first team, but Sudbury Town Reserves twice in the Suffolk Senior Cup drawing 1-1 in 1984 (P. Clark) and winning 1-0 in 1986 courtesy of a John Orr goal en-route to the Suffolk FA Senior Cup Final.

In 1987, Sudbury Town beat Leiston 5-1 in the East Anglian Cup., while a year later Paul Smith, who scored more than 350 goals for Sudbury Town, scored twice as Sudbury defeated Leiston again to the tune of 5-1 and again, in the East Anglian Cup, this time at Victory Road.

When Leiston took the plunge from the Suffolk & Ipswich League to the Eastern Counties League in 2001, it was still Sudbury, but now as AFC Sudbury, setting the bar. But now Leiston were making strides up the pyramid. The Blues first locked horns with AFC Sudbury in the Suffolk Premier Cup in October 2004, the Suds gaining a narrow 1-0 win. However, clashes between the two sides were still few and far between. In the last 20 years the sides have only been paired twice in the Premier Cup, the other occasion in January 2012 with the Blues 3-2 winners at Sudbury.

As regards league encounters, it was November 2004 the two sides found themselves in battle again, this time in the ECL Premier. On a dark November afternoon that year, AFC Sudbury claimed the points in a 2-1-win, T. Sparkes with the hosts consolation after D. Head and S. Hyde goals. Later in the same season as AFC marched towards another title, they recorded a 3-0 home win with prolific strikers G. Bennett (2) and S. Banya on target.

The following campaign Leiston gained a rare victory at a wet Victory Road winning 4-2, Lee McGlone scoring twice in the win for Leiston but later that season AFC won the return fixture 4-1. Indeed, that afternoon in April 2006 was the last time AFC Sudbury beat Leiston in the league.

BLUES GRAB DRAMATIC LATE DRAW

With AFC Sudbury taking promotion to Step 4 that summer the clubs never met again until the 2011/12 season as Leiston joined AFC in Step Four. The games remained competitive, the sides drawing 1-1 at Victory Road, but Leiston triumphed 3-2 later in the season on their way to the Isthmian League title, with Stuart Boardley, Gareth Heath and Rhys Henry the scorers.

As Leiston moved up to Step Three the rivalries were put on hold for a few seasons before in 2016, following Sudbury’s promotion to the same level, Leiston ‘doubled’ their Suffolk rivals after a 2-1 home win (P. Brothers and C. Finch) and a 3-1 away victory. M. Blake, G. Heath and an own goal for Leiston, with the Sudbury goal via L. Wales.
AFC went back to Step Four, but last season returned to Step Three to ignite more derby action. After a midweek draw in West Suffolk, R. Swann cancelling out R. Crane’s opener, Leiston edged their visitors 2-1 in January of this year in the sides most recent encounter, with G. Quantrell and S. Dunbar getting the goals either side of a C. Page strike.

So, what will this latest encounter bring?
Sudbury versus Leiston has been a long, varied and in many respects colourful Suffolk derby spanning 130 years. And today the points are just as important as they were back in 1895 when the teams first met. Tuesday night is set to be another cracker of a game under the Leiston floodlights, with a great atmosphere and big crowd.

I’ll go for a little 1-0 Blues win… And we can then do it all again later in the season over at Sudbury.