"Bucks travel to Suffolk to take on title-chasing Marketmen"

Match Date : February 3rd, 2024 3:00 pm
Competition : Southern League Premier Central
Ground : Bloomfields
Kick Off : 15:00

The Bucks will make the long trip to Suffolk this weekend to take on title-chasing Needham Market.

Having finished 17th last season, the Marketmen have emerged surprise title challengers this term. Needham Market are currently four points behind league leaders Redditch, but they have four games in hand on the Reds, so the Suffolk club look well placed for a tilt at the crown.

The Marketmen have lost only three times in the league this season (excluding a now forgotten 2-0 defeat to Nuneaton), and they have the division’s best defence. The Marketmen have only conceded 17 goals in the league all season, and half a dozen of them came in a 6-1 defeat on opening day at Stratford. But having been in fine form for most of the campaign, Needham Market have lost two of their last four outings.

Needham Market are managed by former Man City man Kevin Horlock, who took charge at Bloomfields in 2020. His side actually began the 2020/21 season in great form, too, before the campaign was cancelled due to Covid. The Marketmen sat 2nd in the table at that stage, but they had failed to recapture those highs until now – Horlock’s side finishing 12th before last season’s 17th place.

Perhaps surprisingly, Needham Market’s squad remains largely unchanged from last season.  Up front, Luke Ingram is the Marketmen’s top scorer with nine league goals, while the “Morphew Twins” form the heart of their defence. Keiran and Dan Morphew have formed the club’s centre back partnership 2017, but the pair are unrelated despite sharing a surname. Recent arrival Adam Mills, who returns for a fourth spell at the club, scored the winner for AFC Sudbury when the Marketmen lost to their Suffolk rivals on New Years Day.

Nuneaton were the only club to take all three points away from Bloomfields this season, but with the Warwickshire club’s record now expunged, the Marketmen technically haven’t lost at home in the league this season. Needham Market won 2-0 at the New Bucks Head earlier in the season too, but the Bucks haven’t lost since then and will be out to make amends with all three points this weekend.

MATCHDAY INFORMATION

Tickets can be bought on the gate.

Website: www.needhammarketfc.co.uk

Ground Address: Bloomfields, Quinton Rd, Needham Market, Suffolk, IP6 8DA