Histon v Ipswich, a hastily arranged match
On Friday me and Sean got the preseason started by visiting the game between Histon and Ipswich. The game had only been arranged on the Tuesday afternoon and it was a big plus to be able to go.
Not surprisingly the cash strapped Stutes who were relying on a lot of trialists, mainly from Dagenham and Stevenage struggled against, despite what the league table suggested last season, one of the stronger teams in the Championship.
The weather was great and the atmosphere at the ground was pretty good for what was a really impressive performance by Ipswich. A lot of people, including the new announcer at Histon expected Ipswich to put out an experimental team, but in fact they put out in the first half what is likely to be their starting line up on the first day of the season with the excellent Connor Wicken coming in after impressing for the England under 17s recently. This was the only change from a team that had beaten Newmarket 9-1 earlier in the week.
However, the Histon defence performed well considering and it wasn't until the 28th minute that Ipswich went ahead with a goal from David Norris. Then Ipswich extended their lead on 32 with Connor Wickham scoring and Ipswich added another couple before half time with McAuley heading a goal and Connor Wickham making it 4-0 after a slip by Gomaz in defence. Gomaz was one of the trialists and after that it was easy to see why John Beck will be turning his attention to the Eastern Counties league in search of new players.
After the break Ipswich made a lot of changes and they struggled to increase their lead further. One piece of good news for Ipswich was probably the return of Argentinian Luciano Civelli after a couple of seasons ravaged by injury. Ipswich got their 5th goal on 71 minutes when Coonago put Civelli in only for him to pass to Martin who slotted the ball into an empty net. Ipswich finally made it 6 on 80 minutes when John Steed scored a tremendous goal from the edge of the box.
The game was pretty much one way traffic, but it was a great evening out and Histon didn't look too far off the mark for the Conference, although I think that they will do well to stay up next season. They were just undone by a very good Ipswich team.
Not surprisingly the cash strapped Stutes who were relying on a lot of trialists, mainly from Dagenham and Stevenage struggled against, despite what the league table suggested last season, one of the stronger teams in the Championship.
The weather was great and the atmosphere at the ground was pretty good for what was a really impressive performance by Ipswich. A lot of people, including the new announcer at Histon expected Ipswich to put out an experimental team, but in fact they put out in the first half what is likely to be their starting line up on the first day of the season with the excellent Connor Wicken coming in after impressing for the England under 17s recently. This was the only change from a team that had beaten Newmarket 9-1 earlier in the week.
However, the Histon defence performed well considering and it wasn't until the 28th minute that Ipswich went ahead with a goal from David Norris. Then Ipswich extended their lead on 32 with Connor Wickham scoring and Ipswich added another couple before half time with McAuley heading a goal and Connor Wickham making it 4-0 after a slip by Gomaz in defence. Gomaz was one of the trialists and after that it was easy to see why John Beck will be turning his attention to the Eastern Counties league in search of new players.
After the break Ipswich made a lot of changes and they struggled to increase their lead further. One piece of good news for Ipswich was probably the return of Argentinian Luciano Civelli after a couple of seasons ravaged by injury. Ipswich got their 5th goal on 71 minutes when Coonago put Civelli in only for him to pass to Martin who slotted the ball into an empty net. Ipswich finally made it 6 on 80 minutes when John Steed scored a tremendous goal from the edge of the box.
The game was pretty much one way traffic, but it was a great evening out and Histon didn't look too far off the mark for the Conference, although I think that they will do well to stay up next season. They were just undone by a very good Ipswich team.
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