MATCH PREVIEW: Haverhill Rovers vs Woodbridge Town

Woodbridge Town's Billy Jordan (Photo: Max Woodward)

Woodbridge Town are back on the road this weekend as they travel to The New Croft to take on Haverhill Rovers. The Peckers are looking for back-to-back wins in the league as the new season gets into full swing.

It was a dominant second half display from the Woodpeckers that saw them defeat Kirkley & Pakefield 0-4 on Tuesday night. A Mark Ray brace, alongside Isaac Ventura and Kie Dyer netting their first goals for the club saw Woodbridge convincingly take the three points.

With that, the Peckers jump to 10th in the table having played four games, completing the league double over Kirkley already this season, and now looking to kick on with a run of away games coming up.

Kie Dyer and Mark Ray celebrating vs Lakenheath (Photo: Max Woodward)

This weekend’s hosts are Haverhill Rovers, who sit 15th in the table, with one win from their opening four league games. They’re a good side with plenty of quality, and they’ll hope to bounce back from Tuesday’s loss to Stowmarket Town by taking the victory this Saturday.

Haverhill’s two wins this season came against Langford in the FA Vase, followed by Heacham in the league, with both games ending 1-3 to the travelling Rovers. They were knocked out of the FA Cup by Halstead Town, with their performances to start this season varying from game to game.

Match Details

Date: Saturday 29th August

Kick-off time: 3pm

Venue: The New Croft, Haverhill

In-form forwards firing

Despite both sides having mixed results to start the campaign, it’s fair to say both frontlines have begun the season with a bang. For the hosts, Tom Stoker and Tom Thulborn have looked in great touch, both netting three in five appearances. 

Jarid Robson, who scored 26 goals in 39 games for Rovers last season opened his account off the bench against Heacham a week ago.

Photo: Max Woodward

For Woodbridge, Mark Ray has been deadly in front of goal with five goals in six games, picking up where he left off last season. Ryan Marsh has scored two from three starts, with Mackenzie Travis also looking deadly from either flank.

With both sides looking sharp coming forwards, expect goals in this one, similar to the 11-goal thriller between the two at The New Croft last season.

Previous Meetings

Last campaign, Haverhill had a firm grip over the Woodpeckers, winning all three meetings across the season. A 4-1 loss for Woodbridge in the Suffolk Premier Cup was followed by an 8-3 demolition away from home. The Peckers did put up a better fight in the home fixture, but still fell to a narrow 1-2 defeat.

Mark Ray against Haverhill back in March (Photo: Max Woodward)

Rovers have won four of the last five matchups between the two sides, beating Woodbridge 1-0 at the end of the 22/23 campaign. The Peckers’ last win against Saturday’s opposition was the opening day of that season, where a strike from Remi Garrett was all that separated the two teams.

Woodbridge will hope to put an end to an unwanted run and take a rare victory against Haverhill this weekend.

Our Supporters

We appreciate every single one of you who made the trip to Kirkley on Tuesday, and the lads really put on a show as a reward! Thank you for the incredible support to start this season, let’s keep getting behind the side as the campaign really starts to unfold.

UP THE PECKERS!