FA Youth Cup Preliminary Round
Framlingham Sports Club, Framlingham
Admission: £5.00
Programme: £1.00
Attendance: 70 (estimate)
Match Rating: 3
On the final evening of my stay at the nearby Carlton Meres Holiday Park, I decided to visit another ground in the Eastern Counties League Premier Division, only a 15 minute drive away but a ground that would be difficult for me to get to from home by public transport.
Framlingham Sports Club is located to the north east of Framlingham town centre, and is located at the end of a track, beyond the complex's clubhouse and amongst the various other sporting facilities. Spectators enter the football ground through a short turnstile tunnel close to one corner. Straddling the half way line is a brick building with three rows of covered seating to the front with a refreshments window in the rear wall, whilst in the rear side of the building there are the changing rooms and a hospitality room. Between this building and the entrance is a brick toilet block, with a picnic table on grass to the front. On the opposite side, there is a small, green, newly installed stand with one row of bench seating inside, whilst along the rest of the length and behind the far goal there is just hard standing. The area behind the remaining goal is inaccessible. The ground has a very peaceful and green setting, and would be a particularly pleasant place to watch at on warm, sunny days. A programme was produced but was very limited in information, 4 pages with just predicted line-ups inside and a short article giving general information about the FA Youth Cup on the rear.
Both clubs' youth teams play in the Eastern Counties League Youth set-up, with Framlingham having won two and lost the other of their three league games so far in the Eastern Division, while King's Lynn Town have won all three of their league games in the Western Division, scoring 25 goals in the process.
With drizzle arriving as the game kicked off and sticking around with varying intensity for most of the match, the visitors really dominated this game throughout, carving out plenty of chances but we're denied by a combination of excellent saves, and some good blocks and deflections. They finally took the lead on 36 minutes when the ball was crossed from the left and Charlie Rudland headed the ball into the corner. On 44 minutes, a header from a corner hit the underside of the crossbar, but for all of King's Lynn's dominance, they held a slender one goal lead at the break.
The game continued in the same vein after the break, but credit to Framlingham for staying disciplined defensively to stay in the game. The visitors missed another hatful of chances throughout the second half, and Framlingham did manage to mount the occasion attack, and so an unlikely equaliser always looked a possibility to punish the visitors for not putting the game to bed. But in the end, the one goal was enough for a deserved victory for the visitors.
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