Its been a mixed bag for the under 18's Ridgeons squad over the past couple of months.In a very competitive league where no team can assume victory, the lads have beaten Cornard and Haverhill and lost to Hadleigh and league leaders Brantham twice.

Its also been a frustrating time for Manager Dave King, his assistant Adie Perry and Coach Stuart Alston in relation to game call off's, and never having a settled side due to holidays, injuries, work committments and just non-committment! But the regular lads that turn up each week have produced some excellent football, worked very hard and have done the club proud with some great performances.

Back in early December saw us travel the short distance to our neighbours Cornard and gave a gritty performance to secure a fine victory. Lewis Cawtheray is getting back to his good form and gave Melford the lead with a neat opportunist goal. Cornard then levelled shortly after but Adam King put Melford back in front with a stinging 20 yard snap shot.

Again, Cornard equalised against the run of play just before the break, but it was Melford who took a deserved lead with 10 minutes remaning by the way of a Todd Martin bullet header from a quality swinging corner from Kingy. The game was made safe and the celebrations started when Charlie Wiffen smashed in the goal of the game from 35 yards.

6 weeks later, a very rusty Melford squad produced a poor display to lose 3-0 to a very improving Hadleigh team. However, the game could and should have been so different if the young referee had applied the rules correctly when he somehow only showed a yellow card to a Hadleigh defender who chopped down Perry and being the last man with only 10 minutes into the game. He also then went onto turn down 3 clear cut penalty decisions when the lively Perry was again stopped in his tracks.

The following week we travelled to rivals Haverhill, who were fielding 5 former Melford players from last season. Once again, we were let down by late cancellations and poor excuses but the team that Dave put out worked so hard in awful conditions and deserved their victory. Melford took an early lead when Cawtheray broke through a square defence and finished with a delightful chip over the keeper.Haverhill got an equliser soon after but it was Perry who scored what turned out to be the winner when he confidently hit home a penalty just before the break. Our defence of keeper Ross Brinkley, Todd Martin, Myles Clarke, Luke Mitchell and Tommy Wiffen played a big part in this game, being well organised and all being strong and making their tackles to help secure the victory.

The last two games has seen us play back to back games against league leaders Brantham. The first game was at Stoneylands were we showed them to much respect in the first 20 minutes and found ourselves 3-0 down in that time due to 3 defensive mistakes. The further 70 minutes saw us match them in every department but couldnt break through a very well organised defence.

The most recent game was on Wednesday night, when we travelled to Brantham and welcomed new signing from Braintree Simon 'Sid' Hudson. Once again, Brantham started the better side and took an early 2-0 lead. To their credit, Melford continued to play with confidence and scored a deserved goal when Tommy Perry picked up the ball in the middle of the opposition's half, he then went past two defenders with ease to then smash home a 20 yard shot in the top corner giving the Brantham keeper no chance.

But it was Brantham who took their chances to increase their lead to 4-1 and who thought they had made the safe. Melford then had a blow at half time when the influential Sid Hudson had to be replaced due to a dead leg. Ben Hyett was pushed into the heart of midfield and immediately made an impact. Then came the fightback when Tommy Perry hit another stunning unstoppable shot on 60 minutes and then Nathan Bartlett smashed home on 80 minutes after good work from Tom Millar and Charlie Wiffen. Melford continued to push and had Brantham on the ropes but they just held on and were very relieved to hear the final whistle. I'm sure the lads will take great heart from this game in the way they never gave up and matched the league leaders in every deptartment. Tommy Perry and Charlie Wiffen were a contant thorn in the Brantham defence, Nathan Bartlett, Adam King, Tom Millar, Sid Hudson and Ben Hyett worked so hard all night in midfield, our super big Keeper Ross Brinkley kept us in the game with many superb saves and our defence of Tommy Wiffen, Myles Clark, Luke Mitchell and Todd Martin gave a solid display and were very well organised.

When you watch these lads work so hard on a bitter evening like Wednesday and give you a performance like that, it makes you very proud to be their Manager and to be associated with them. Well done lads.

Coach Stuart Alston has the respect of the players, he has helped me so much this season and has done a great job. Richard Powell is there for us week in week out and we can't thank him enough for all his hard work and support.

Its also really pleasing to see many of our lads playing for the senior teams. Adam King and Tom Millar are holding their own and playing well in the first team. Tommy Perry is banging in the goals for his dad in the reserves and Myles Clark, Tom Wiffen and Nathan Bartlett are also playing their part in the successful reserve team.

Finally, the Dublin trip is off - too many complications! So its going to be a Yarmouth Weekender in May for the lads and their dads! (date to be agreed).

Next game - Coplestonians at Home next Wednesday 24th Feb - 7.45pm k.o.