ANOTHER COLDWELL BRACE SEES U18S WIN NINE GOAL THRILLER

 Needham Market U18 v Walsham Le Willows U18 | 27.08.2026 | Thurlow Nunn Eastern Counties Youth League Central Division Game 2 | Bloomfields |

Dawson Coldwell's second brace in as many games for the Under-18's saw Needham Market record back to back wins to start their 2026/27 Thurlow Nunn Youth League Central Division campaign in a nine goal thriller against a good Walsham Le Willows side.

It was an excellent performance from the home side, who remained a threat going forward all night, Kyle Roper (4') had the first chance of the evening, driving through towards the area but was halted by a crucial defensive intercepted.

Skipper Roper (9') excellently broke the deadlock, exploiting space on the right-hand edge of the box to thunder an excellent strike into the top right-hand corner.

Dawson Coldwell (11') then saw a low shot held by goalkeeper Zak Leighton at his left-hand post from 18-yards out.

Alex Breeden (18') excellently beat his defender to a through-ball just on the left-hand side whose ferocious low strike went just wide of the bottom near corner.

Coldwell (18') saw a low fierce shot from the left-hand edge of the box, as a neat one-two threaded Riley Coote (19') free onto the left-hand byline dangerously whose cutback was cleared.

Walsham though equally posed a danger going forward, and duly equalised (22') with a neat move as a clever low left wing cross was fired home into the roof of the net by Ben Hooper at point blank range.

Needham (23') in reply advanced onto the left wing byline smartly but flashed a dangerous cross across the face of goal but away from goal.

The game sprung into life (25'), Walsham weaved onto the left-hand side in space but saw their clever tight angled shot, that was creeping into the bottom near corner, tipped wide well by Freddie Foreman.

Needham (27') drove up the pitch, feeding Dawson Coldwell through on goal whose low shot across to the keeper's right was well held by the keeper.

Needham retook the lead expertly, Dawson Coldwell (33') smartly turned home an inviting low right wing free-kick at close range, to make it 2-1.

Breeden beat his marker to drive through onto the left-hand side (34') but fired just wide into the top near side-netting.

An important save (37') from Freddie Foreman advanced off his line to expertly smother away a darting run into the area, as Breeden raced onto the right-hand edge of the box at the other end moments later but his rifled low near post shot was matched by a sharp diving save by Leighton to beat it away.

Walsham (40') levelled proceedings quickly once more, Finn Deeks' great run down the right wing and low cutback was met by the arriving Ben Hooper to finish brilliantly into the top right-hand, far, corner.

Roper (41') fired over from a tight angle at close range from the right-hand side, while Breeden (43') hit a dipping left wing cross-shot just over the crossbar.

Coldwell struck the wall with a powerful (45') well hit 30-yard free-kick, while Needham headed a left wing corner into a dangerous area comfortably at Leighton, as the two teams went into the break level at two goals apiece.

The young Marketmen went agonisingly close within a minute of the restart, Dawson Coldwell was slipped through on goal to shoot just wide of the bottom right-hand corner, prior to Breeden (47') finding space on the right-hand side only to fire a good low cross-shot across the six yard box and narrowly wide of the target.

Breeden latched onto the loose ball on 48 minutes, but wrapped his low shot just wide of the bottom right-hand corner from just outside the box.

Kyle Roper (50') beat his man only to fire a great strike just wide of the top left-hand corner from 20-yards out, just before striker Coldwell duly netted a superb second goal to give Needham a well earned 3-2 lead on 51 minutes.

Coldwell made it 4 goals in 2 games as he exploited space to fire home expertly into the bottom left-hand corner, before a fourth goal in quick succession doubled the young Reds' lead.

Aden Chandler (53') was threaded through on goal, by a perfect dissecting through-ball, to neatly spin past the onrushing Leighton and turn home into the vacant net.

Alfie Mark (61') saw a smart effort from the right-hand side beaten behind by the quick reactions of Leighton, ahead of Alfie Mark (66') turning round hunting for an angle to shoot, only for his low shot to be well held by the diving stopper guarding his near post.

Needham remained on the front foot, hungry for more goals, Lewis Randell (69') was threaded through in acres of space down the right wing only for his first time cross to be swatted away by the goalkeeper on his line.

The visitors (74') pulled a goal back to halve the deficit, an intelligent left wing low cross was turned home by Doman first time at close range, cooly finding the bottom right-hand corner.

Needham (76') lashed a brilliant low shot from the left-hand edge of the box just wide of the bottom far corner, before Needham restored their two goal lead to make it 5-3 (77').

A brilliant through-ball threaded Lewis Randell through on goal, which the substitute bared down on goal to smartly fire home past the keeper into the bottom left-hand corner.

The action packed game continued to deliver as Walham made it 5-4 in the 81st minute. A brace for Doman saw the substitute found free to finish well into the bottom far, left-hand, corner.

The Walsham keeper (84') was alert to grab the ball ahead of Fin Brock who was breaking close to goal.

Alfie Mark (91') saw two golden chances pass him by in quick succession, the first unfortunate to see his brilliant curling shot go just wide of the top far corner while the second saw a clever cut-back find the forward in space at point blank range who shot agonisingly just over.

The Young Marketmen return to Bloomfields for the first of two more consecutive home fixtures on Thursday (3rd September, 7:45pm), when Soham Town Rangers visit.

Goalscorer Kyle Roper discussing the victory, said, "it's a very good feeling, but I feel like we could have played a bit better today. A little bit disappointing, but it's another win." 

On captaining the team, Roper added, "yes, it felt good. I wasn't really expecting it, but most of the boys are away. The second years are away, but yes, it felt good and I feel like it was a good feeling." 

Reflecting on picking up another goal and assist, "yes, just getting in the right spaces at the right time, taking on the half-turn and up the shot and then the assist. Dawson is just always there, just a pass to him and he's never going to miss from there."

When asked how it feels to make a winning start to the season, "yes, it's a great feeling, but we keep going. The first two games are very important, but we'll push next week. FA Youth Cup is a very big game and we hope to get through to that as well." 

"I felt like most of their goals were very sloppy and ours were. We reacted well in terms of their goals, but we shouldn't have conceded four like that. We should be much better than that at the back. (We) bounced back straight away, good reaction, but that can't be happening in big games." 

Asked if that sums up Under-18's football, the attacking midfielder replied, "it can be a little bit, because we're only 16-18, still learning and getting experience. Mistakes will happen, but we don't want them to, so hopefully we can learn and not do that again."

Roper is also keen to emulate last season, "we want to keep going, keep driving, play hard, work hard and keep winning."


Needham Market:- 1 Freddie Foreman, 2 Danylo Konik, 3 Leyton Coote, 4 Cohen Watts, 5 Riley Coote, 6 Riley Parker, 7 Alex Breeden, 14 Charlie Fox, 9 Dawson Coldwell, 10 Kyle Roper (C), 11 Aden Chandler. Subs: 16 Ted Johnson, 15 Fin Brock, 17 Alfie Mark, 18 Lewis Randell.

Walsham Le Willows:- 1 Zak Leighton, 2 Max Ellis, 3 Evan Mercer, 4 Jack Lodge, 5 Josh Gilbert, 6 Albie Blanchard, 7 Ruben Hipperson, 8 Luke Johnson (C), 9 Ben Hooper, 10 Finn Deeks, 11 Isaac Walshe. Subs: 12 Finn Stumnson, 14 Luke Doman, 15 Dougie White, 16 Jayden Swallow, 17 Will French.

Goals: Kyle Roper (9'), Coldwell (33', 51'), Chandler (53'), Randell (77'); Ben Hooper (22', 40'), Doman (74', 81').