LEWIS STUNNER RESCUES POINT

Needham Market v Leighton Town | 27.10.2026 | Bloomfields | The Pitching In Southern League Premier Central Division Game 14 |

https://youtu.be/mFHWVNzEWXI?is=4GO_SSZStOAJMZ0g

 

Needham Market dropped a place to sixth in the league table after being held to a frustrating 1-1 draw with 21st side Leighton Town at Bloomfields.

Tom Rothery made two changes from the FA Trophy defeat to Wingate and Finchley, Keiran Morphew and Jake Watkiss returned to the starting eleven with Tyler Wright and Harlyn Palmer on the bench. Harry Hopkins and Charlie Skinner dropped off the bench and were in action for the Reserves.

The draw makes it five league games unbeaten for the Reds, ending the visitors' losing run after Manu Oku-William struck in the 12th minute, until Marcel Lewis (72') equalised to collect a point for the Marketmen.

Needham started brightly, Marcel Lewis (6') curled a good 20-yard free-kick - that was prompted by his dangerous run - round the wall but it's well held by Nightingale.

Ryan Miles (8') met a fizzed low left wing cross at the near post close to goal, only for Nightingale to shovel it away, though Leighton broke the deadlock against the run of play in the 12th minute.

A left wing cross, after a slip from Ben Hunter, was headed into the bottom left-hand corner by Oke-William unmarked at the far post.

Keiran Morphew (16') glanced a dangerous Marcel Lewis header towards goal at the near post but saw it headed away from goal by a defender standing a yard ahead of the line.

Needham went close in the 22nd minute, Jake Watkiss was slipped through onto the left-hand side of the box only to wrap a great effort narrowly wide of the top far corner.

The Marketmen continued to probe for an equaliser, Ryan Miles (24') was threaded through on goal in the area but saw his shot tipped behind by the onrushing Nightingale. Lewis' corner moments later was glanced onto Keiran Morphew, but the latter's stretching header from 12-yards out went over.

Watkiss (28') whipped a cross-shot over from the left wing, while Marcel Lewis (30') was played through in the area by Liam Pearce but wrapped his shot just wide of the bottom corner.

Nightingale (42') rushed off his line to intercept Ingram's flick on from a long ball towards Liam Pearce, gathering possession.

At the other end, Avan Jones (45'+2') flashed a ferocious low strike narrowly wide of the bottom far corner, while Liam Pearce (45'+3') picked out Ingram in the centre whose first time half-volley was held by the diving Nightingale at his right-hand post.

Needham changed formation from 4-2-3-1 to 4-4-2 at the break, and went close early into the second half (47'), Liam Pearce was set free down the left into the area whose close range low strike was saved at the near post.

Needham created a good chance (52'), Jake Watkiss' left wing cross picked out Jake Dye at the far post but Nightingale held onto his effort.

James Bradbrook (57') meanwhile was down smartly low to his left-hand side to hold a shot from the edge of the box, as Tyler Wright (65') made his league debut in place of Ryan Miles.

Liam Pearce was found in the area but saw his sixty-ninth minute effort deflected, as Leighton put bodies in the way with 3 players helping it away from goal.

The Reds found the breakthrough in the 72nd minute, an excellently worked equaliser saw James Bradbrook's long kick fed onto Kyle Hammond by Watkiss to tee up Marcel Lewis to curl a stunning strike into the top far, left-hand, corner!!

Bradbrook was on hand to thwart Tiago Cerqueira's low first time well hit volley (73'), as Watkiss' thunderous low strike (82') was blocked.

Great control from Ingram (87') in the area, who drives towards goal but pokes low and straight at Nightingale.

James Coton (88') replaced Keiran Morphew, while Bradbrook could only parry a 90th minute dangerous ball across the face of goal but the almost certain tap in was denied by Tyler Wright on the line.

Pearce (92') saw his great strike blocked by McClelland, as the points were shared.

Needham travel to Redditch United on Saturday (31st October, 3pm).

Needham Market:- 1 James Bradbrook, 2 Jake Dye, 4 Kyle Hammond, 5 Keiran Morphew (C) (88' Coton), 7 Luke Ingram, 10 Ryan Miles (65' Wright), 12 Liam Pearce, 14 Jake Watkiss, 16 Marcel Lewis, 17 Ben Hunter, 19 Kell Fiddy.
Subs: 3 Tyler Wright, 11 Josh Tennial, 15 James Coton, 18 Harlyn Palmer.

Leighton Town:- 1 Benjamin Nightingale, 2 Avan Jones (76' Perry), 3 James Dobson, 4 Josh Odell, 5 Luke Pyman, 6 Sam McClelland, 7 Samuel King (83' Guzynski), 8 Euan Warlow, 9 Manu Oke-William, 10 Kobe Chong (79' Vukoje), 11 Kyal Williams (C) (63' Cerqueira).
Subs: 12 Stefan Vukoje, 14 Tiago Cerqueira, 15 Marco Silvestri, 16 Reece Perry, 17 Marcel Guzynski.

Booked: Luke Ingram (96').
Goals: Marcel Lewis (72'); Manu Oke-William (12')
Att: 267.
Needham MOTM chosen by match sponsor Keith Nunn: 16 Marcel Lewis

MARKETWOMEN TOPPLE U'S WITH BRACE IN LEAGUE PLATE

Needham Market Women v Colchester United Women | 25.10.2026 | Ruby Homes Bloomfields 3G Arena | Eastern Regions Womens League Plate |

Needham Market have progressed into the next round of the League Plate after a comfortable 2-0 home win over Colchester United. 

The win came in blustery conditions as Storms hit the UK over the weekend, but it didn’t derail the home side as a double from Kiera Topple put Needham in control at the break.

No goals were scored in the second period but of the chances it was the home side who had the best to extend their lead than the visitors getting back into the contest.

It was a strong start by the home side as both sides tried to get used to the wind and Anna Sullivan was first to go close after just five minutes, but her shot was dragged wide.

But it didn’t take long to turn that warning into a goal when a smart pass found Topple and she was denied at close range but the rebound fell back to her and she tucked it into the corner. 

There weren’t many other chances through the half with most attempts from the home side either wide or comfortable for the keeper. 

But the lead was doubled just before the break when Adele Stalnionis beat her full back and put over a tantalizing cross that hung up taking out the keeper and defenders on the line and finding the unmarked Topple to bundle in at the back post. 

The second half started badly for the hosts when centre back Ciera Flatt went down after a late challenge and had to leave the field on crutches after only just coming back from a broken rib she sustained at the back end of pre-season. 

There wasn’t a lot of chances as the half drew on although the best ones did fall to the home side where Jae Lewis-Samuel missed a sitter.

To be fair to her she didn’t let it affect her and she had another chance that just cleared the bar before seeing a cross deflected narrowly wide by one of the covering centre backs. 

Colchester didn’t offer much of a threat, although they did feel a ball had crossed the line from a melee in the box after Needham failed to clear a corner. 

On the whole though Needham defended very well, and will hope that the clean sheet and victory will be something to build on going forward.

BROCK STRIKES WINNER FOR RESERVES

Needham Market Reserves v Holbeach United | 24.10.2026 | Ruby Homes Bloomfields 3G Arena | Thurlow Nunn Eastern Counties League First Division North |

Needham Market Reserves returned to winning ways on Saturday afternoon with a 1-0 home win over Holbeach United. 

Fin Brock's first half goal was the difference for Colin Grogan's side to pick up a huge three points.

Goalscorer Brock said, "very pleased. Good to get back to winning ways after coming back from a 4-0 defeat away to Newmarket on Tuesday, I think that's the first clean sheet of the season actually, so we're pleased to have that and get that under our belt. The season so far has been alright. I feel like we've just had too many errors and just led to goals where we've still been in games, which have just caused us to lose , unfortunately, but we're still able to win games.

I feel like we have a good fighting chance to hopefully get out of the relegation zone." 

"Obviously, we all play 18s and reserves now, so we're winning quite often in the 18s, so hopefully we can just try and get that in the reserves as well."

On getting on the scoresheet, "it's good to score more goals. I'm getting more and more now as I'm going through the season, so it feels good. I kind of picked it up, started to drive at the back line. I was debating whether to pass or shoot, and I just saw it open up, so I just hit and ended up in the back of the net."

Looking ahead to Tuesday's trip to AFC Sudbury Reserves, "yeah, it should be a tough game. We're a similar place in the league. We know they're a good team, so hopefully we can get our three points there, so it'll be a good back-to-back win. There's good morale on the team and good energy in the changing room, so hopefully we can transfer that to the game next week."

Captain Harry Hopkins said, "a great win for the lads, and a great performance, with a clean sheet for the team."

When asked how it feels to captain the team the midfielder said, "it’s a great experience for me at a young age and that the managers trust me." 

Hopkins' said his stand out moment from the game was, "how we defended in the reserves game and how aggressive we were." 

He also made his home First Team debut, adding the standout moment in that game was " getting minutes and learning off experienced, talented players."

"It felt great to play in two games and too get minutes with the first team, but definitely felt strange running from one pitch to the other.

On how he found featuring for the First Team on Saturday, "It was good thought I got some good touches and passes in that lead us on goal but mostly just learning again from the players around me."

When recapping his season so far, he concluded, "I would say my season is only just starting for me and I'm picking up my form again and just need to kick on and show what I'm capable of doing on a bigger stage." 

BOTTI DOUBLE KNOCKS MARKETMEN OUT OF TROPHY

Needham Market v Wingate and Finchley | 24.10.2026 | Bloomfields | Isuzu FA Trophy 1st Round Proper |

Reaction from Tom Rothery, Tyler Wright and Josh Tennial

 

Gianluca Botti struck in both halves to end Needham Market's FA Trophy run in the First Round Proper, sending Wingate and Finchley through with a 2-0 win.

The two sides went into the game with fairly similar league records - Needham sit 5th in the Southern League Premier Central Division with 7 wins and 2 draws from 13 games (23 points, winning 3 and drawing 2 of 7 home games), while Wingate sat 8th in the Isthmian Premier Division, winning 6 and drawing 2 of 12 outings (20 points, with 2 wins and a draw in 6 away trips).

Wingate had previously won 4 and drawn 2 of their eight overall games away from home this campaign, including in the last round of the Isuzu FA Trophy, knocking out Real Bedford with a 3-0 victory, but had lost their last away game away to Dartford in the league.

Needham went into the game having won 4 and drawing 3 of 9 home outings in all competitions this season, unbeaten in their last 7 - and had won their last two.

The two sides also had a fairly even head to head, despite not meeting in recent seasons- both winning 2 apiece with a draw. The most recent meeting coincidentally was at Bloomfields in a 1-1 draw in December 2017.

Needham made two changes to Tuesday's home league win over Bishop's Stortford, Ollie Saunders (injured) and Dan Morphew (suspended) made way for Tyler Wright - Academy player making his full and home First team debut, and Harlyn Palmer - making his full First Team debut. Reserves captain Harry Hopkins and Goalkeeper Charlie Skinner joined Josh Tennial and James Coton on the bench, with Luke Ingram skippering the Marketmen.

Gianluca Botti (18') gave the visitors the lead against the run of play, and promptly doubled their lead in the 79th minute on a disappointing afternoon for the Marketmen.

Needham started brightly, Marcel Lewis (3') drove into space on the left-hand side but his dangerous squared ball was cleared for a corner.

Kyle Hammond (6') whipped a great left wing corner towards goal, forcing keeper Charlie Grainger to parry away on his line.

Luke Ingram (7') rasped a first time strike from just outside the area, which was well blocked, the winger (15') stabbed the loose ball from a Hammond right wing corner wide at the back post.

Gianluca Botti (18') meanwhile broke the deadlock - rather against the run of play with Wingate's first meaningful attack, netting his 3rd goal of the campaign - finding the bottom far corner from the right-hand side.

Kyle Hammond (27') was well placed to deflect a dangerous low Wingate effort from the right-hand side wide of the near post for a corner.

At the other end, Needham broke swiftly, feeding Liam Pearce (28') to weave into space onto the right-hand edge of the box but fired his low strike straight at Grainger.

Wingate (33') hit the post, Anointed Chukwu latched onto a right wing corner at the far post only to lash a volley against the face of the right-hand upright.

Since the goal, the opposition were marginally on top, though Hammond (38') hammered a 30-yard free-kick at goal, forcing Grainger to fly up to his top right-hand corner and tip it just over.

Wingate went into the break a goal up, although Needham (48') started the restart brightly. Ryan Miles raced down the left wing to cross low for Liam Pearce whose close range effort was cleared.

Ashley Nzala (55') fired low into the right-hand side-netting, while Marcel Lewis (57') wrapped a clever 20-yard free-kick just wide into the near, right-hand, side-netting.

James Coton (60') replaced Kell Fiddy - due to a knock, as Nzala's shot at point blank range is well held by the diving Bradbrook.

Academy midfielder Josh Tennial (63') made his first team debut in place of Liam Pearce, as Tyler Wright (67') earned a corner smartly.

Hammond arriving on the right-hand side (69') flashed a dangerous half-volley across the face of goal, only to evade a lurking Red shirt.

Wright (72') was well placed to clear a dangerous low ball across the six yard box, while Nzala shot off target from a golden opportunity.

Wingate (79') netted a second through Botti, turning home a run down the left wing and low cross on a plate for the number ten to turn home into the bottom left-hand corner.

Palmer (79') was forced off with cramp, and was replaced by another home senior debutant in Harry Hopkins.

Nzala (84') was sent off for retaliation in a mass confrontation, which saw Wright booked for his original foul.

Ryan Miles (95') jinked to the left-hand byline to see a dangerous cutback cleared, falling to Coton whose low strike was blocked.

Needham host Leighton Town in the league on Tuesday (7:45pm).

REACTION | Tyler Wright, Josh Tennial | Needham Market v Wingate and Finchley | 24.10.2026 |

Academy players Tyler Wright and Josh Tennial reacted to making their home First Team debuts.

Wright said, "we obviously wanted to win, because FA Trophy, get to Wembley. It's a massive deal, but yeah, happy to make my debut. I only made 45 last time, but to start, and to find out you're starting in such a big game, it's a privilege, yeah. To start, I had an ease into things, but as it grew, I kind of settled down, played my football.

Obviously, getting into a challenge and all of that, that's kind of just how I play. So yeah, I find it fun, quite easy. Not easy, but normal. I've had a couple of training sessions. Normally, Tuesdays, because Thursdays are obviously other games, but yeah, I've settled in very well. I've been in, JT as well. So yeah, they're a good bunch of lads. Yeah, it's quite easy to get involved."

Josh Tennial added,"it was good. Getting on there, playing, tempo was high, quality was real good, pitch was lovely to play on. So I was very happy to get on." 

Tennial on making his debut among a few of his Academy teammate said, "Yeah, definitely, especially on the bench, because obviously I was there with Jameo, Harry, Charlie. So it's nice to know people you're around, you feel more comfortable really, but all the boys are nice, so it was good, yeah." 

Wright, on whether making his home debut makes it better, said,"Oh yeah, without a doubt. Obviously I've played here for five years, I think now. From under-14s to now, obviously playing here for the majority of my career. And I'll just start on Bloomfield on a lovely pitch. It's just even better."

Speaking about their debuts shows the pathway from the Academy to the First Team, Tennial replied, "oh yeah, I know a lot of the players would love to have the experience.

Me, Tyler, Harry, Henry sometimes have. Because it's a good experience, because the level is just unbelievable. I know they definitely want to be pushing as well, like us. I know a couple of the year-below us would like the experience next year. There's definitely some players that could get in there as well."

REACTION | Tom Rothery  Post Match Interview| Needham Market v Wingate and Finchley | 24.10.2026 |

Manager Tom Rothery reflected, "tough game. I thought we did alright.

Obviously, without stating the obvious, we were quite a few (players) out. So, it was a bit of a patched up team. I think the first half we could have been a bit more brave, we had a bit more belief, but obviously, with the players that were out, I can understand why the players felt like that. Two good goals from their point of view, but two poor goals from our point of view, and we huffed and puffed, but didn't really show any quality or enough quality on the day to get a result." 

On the performance not quite matching recent standards, "no, but it's not going to be when you take the amount of players that are out of the team. Obviously, you're bringing in people for their debut and things like that. So, it's going to be really tough. Playing against a good side. Yes, I don't think it was a typical Needham performance, but as much as I wanted that and hoped for that today, I did expect that it was going to be tough with the personnel that we had out today. Yeah, I thought (the Academy players) did all right.

Tyler obviously played 90 minutes. So, for him, that's a massive achievement. I thought he did reasonably well. Obviously, he probably got caught on the first goal when he tried to be aggressive and just got nicked around him. That happens. So, it's a learning curve for him. I thought other than that, I thought he had quite a solid game, really. He showed some nice touches and good quality in possession, and out of possession, other than that, I didn't think he looked out of place. So, yeah, from that point of view, it's a good debut for him. Like I said, as much as it's disappointing for players to be out, it does create opportunities for players like Tyler. Josh, JT, came in. I thought he did really well when he came on. Again, showed some nice touches, moved the ball reasonably well. Harry obviously came on late. Again, showed some nice touches. Harlyn had his first start. So, like I said, when players are out, it gives opportunities to others. I think by and large, all of them players have certainly not done themselves any harm. They've shown some real good qualities today, but it is tough for them as well because they're coming into a team that's missing big players and big leaders. Obviously, off the back of that, that then makes it tougher for them to obviously really show their true self. I thought by and large, they all did pretty well." 

On the line-up consisting of 5 wingers and a holding midfielder, Rothery replied, "Yeah, well, that wasn't an intentional thing. Look, I could have been more negative in my team selection. Maybe could have played Liam deeper in the pitch and things like that. Maybe started him at left back, you know, I did contemplate that, but at the end of the day, the front boys who mostly played today, not all of them played, obviously, but the majority of them played in their natural positions. I didn't want to put too many square pegs in round holes, really. I still wanted to try and win the game. So, you know, as much as we had players out and we did have some, like I said, people starting that haven't started and things like that, I still wanted to try and win the game. So there's no point in me telling the players to be positive if I'm not going to do the same thing. So my team selection was positive. I tried to be as front-footed as possible and understand that, you know, we did have, obviously, Luke in a different position, but other than that, everyone was playing in their natural position. So that was the intention behind it. Like I said to Munno and Patch, we did speak about itm I just said, I'm not going into a game and just setting up to lose the game. I know we've lost the game, but I've set up the game to try and win it. And that'll always be my intention, regardless of who's available.

On looking for a reaction at home to Leighton Town in the league on Tuesday, "After every game you lose, regardless of what personnel you've got available, it's about reactions and trying to put it right. So we're doing well in the league. Hopefully, we'll have one or two back. Obviously, Jake Watkiss will definitely be back. Yeah, we'll pick as strong a side as we can. Over the next week or two, there should be a lot of players coming back. So that is definitely going to help us and probably help my sleep at night as well. So that will give me more headaches from a selection point of view, but less headaches from a point of view of actually trying to have enough players.

On managing the congested fixture schedule as it is, and the injury crisis on top, "It's difficult. Look, there's no doubt about it, the correlation is really clear. The league, for some reason, have scheduled three midweeks out of four in October. I just think it's absolute madness, because surely they want their clubs to do well in the FA competitions. We know it's already a heavy fixture schedule because of that. We've got midweeks, like I said, bar one week in October every midweek. I think it's madness. So, you know, the correlation is that clearly if you're going to play that volume of games, the lads will work 40 hours a week. You're going to pick up injuries. If you look at the injuries, actually, the players that are unavailable, obviously, Jake's on loan, so it was cup tied. Dan, obviously, banned. That's on him and us, so we can't do anything about that. The other six players that are out, four of them are impact injuries. So you can't do anything about that. (5:28) It's not like, you know, we've done something or we're doing something wrong at training. You can't do anything about that, and that is purely through volume of games, and then the other two are muscle injuries, which, again, is because of volume of games, because you're asking them to go to the wall and, you know, do 90 minutes and then have to go to work all week. So it's really tough. I'm frustrated by it as well because I just think there's no need for us to have three out of four midweeks in October. I think it's absolute madness and something that the league definitely have to look at."

Needham Market:- 1 James Bradbrook, 2 Jake Dye, 3 Tyler Wright, 4 Kyle Hammond, 7 Luke Ingram (C), 10 Ryan Miles, 12 Liam Pearce (63' Tennial), 16 Marcel Lewis, 17 Ben Hunter, 18 Harlyn Palmer (79' Hopkins), 19 Kell Fiddy (60' Coton).
Subs: 8 Harry Hopkins, 11 Josh Tennial, 15 James Coton, 13 Charlie Skinner (GK)

Wingate and Finchley:- 1 Charlie Grainger, 4 Billy Cracknell, 6 Sam Cornish, 8 Ryan Lowe (C), 9 Anointed Chukwu (70' Kashket), 10 Gianluca Botti (87' Hernandez), 11 David Oupoh (70' McGettigan), 12 Sami Moutawafig (87' Ferrini), 15 Kai Fraser, 17 Ashley Nzala, 20 Casey Shann (89' Bugyei-Kyei).
Subs: 5 Victor Ferrini, 7 Caoilan McGettigan, 18 Scott Kashket, 21 Loic Hernandez, 22 Kwadwo Bugyei-Kyei.

Booked: Wright (84').
Sent Off: Nzala (84').
Goals: Gianluca Botti (18', 79').
Att: 212.
Needham MOTM chosen by match sponsor Jen Nunn: 17 Ben Hunter.