On Saturday 7th November, Blues are back on the road, visiting Mulbarton Wanderers, for our first ever meeting. Kick off at the Adobe Stadium, Mulberry Park is 3.00pm.

It's also the first game in full charge for our new management team of Lewis Clark, supported by his brother Jordan, together with Ollie Muldoon. Let's all get behind them and support the Blues.

Wanderers were created as a junior club in 1993 and have moved up through the Norfolk and Anglian Leagues. In 2018/19, they joined the Eastern Counties League Division 1 North. They then gained promotion to the Premier Division based on their performances in the two Covid interrupted seasons. Since then, they have been building, culminating in last season's treble winning season.

Firstly, they romped to the League Title with some amazing stats; 87 points in 34 games, Title won by 21 points, 98 goals scored and just 3 losses. They then added the League Cup and to put sugar on top of the cherry on the cake, won the Norfolk Senior Cup at Carrow Road, defeating Dereham Town in a closely contested final.

In The Dugout

Mulbarton have joint managers. Ben Thompson is a Mulbarton native with family connections to the club. He was a part of Norwich City's Academy before playing for several local sides, notably Wroxham and AFC Sudbury. His fellow manager is Danny Self, who also played in the Canaries Academy before moving into non league with his home town club, Great Yarmouth Town, then several other local sides including Lowestoft Town and Norwich United. The duo were appointed in 2016 and have therefore have served 10 years as joint managers, overseeing the club's rise from the Anglian Combination to the Isthmian League.

Close Season

The margin of Mulbarton's title win last year meant that preparations for this season could begin before the last campaign was completed. They retained the majority of their treble winning side, several of whom have played over 100 times for them. Club skipper James Page now has over 300 appearances and Kieran Smith over 200.

They signed three players from Wroxham, Lennon Thompson, Ollie Whittaker and James Everett, adding Isthmian League experience to their squad.

Early Season Form

Mulbarton carried forward a lot of momentum from last season and won their first 5 games this term without conceding a goal. They started off in the FA Cup thrashing Lakenheath 6-0, before a notable win 2-0 away at Felixstowe and Walton in their first ever FA Trophy match. Following, this, they travelled to Sudbury for their debut in the Isthmian League and prevailed 1-0. It was back to the FA Cup and another win 1-0 over Little Oakley, before another league win on the road at Lowestoft 2-0.

Their first blip came in the Trophy away at Welwyn Garden City, with a 0-3 defeat. They travelled to Newmarket in the league and pushed The Jockeys all the way but lost 1-2. They bounced back in the FA Cup beating Cornard United 3-0, before a home defeat in the league to Bowers and Pitsea 1-2.

Then came the game that gave them nationwide attention, an FA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round tie at Essex Senior League, Woodford Town. The tie was won 2-1 but Woodford appealed the result as the referee had a mistake when there was encroachment at a penalty kick. The FA eventually and controversially decided the tie should be replayed. A record crowd of over 800 witnessed the replay at the Adobe Arena with Wanderers coming through 2-0. In between the two games with Woodford, Wanderers beat old rivals, Fakenham Town 4-0 away, before losing at home to Felixstowe and Walton, 0-3.

Mulbarton then hosted Step 3 outfit, Gloucester City, in the 3rd Qualifying Round of the FA Cup. A record crowd of over a 1000 saw Wanderers give a good account of themselves before losing 1-2 to their West Country opponents.

Recent Form

In their last 6 league games, Mulbarton have W1 D2 L3 with 7 Goals For and 12 Goals Against. They have played 6 league games at home with a record of W1 D1 L4 GF 8 GA 12.

Last Time Out

Both sides had days to forget last Saturday. Mulbarton travelled down to Witham Town and lost 4-0 to their hosts. One of the Witham goals was scored by former Blue, Manny Ogunrinde. Blues hosted Sudbury and fell to a disappointing 2-0 defeat. The damage was done in a few minutes in the middle of the first half and despite a lot of pressure in the second half, we just could not get the goal to turn them game around. Credit to Sudbury's defence who worked their socks off and their goalkeeper who had a great game.

Top Scorers

Mulbarton's main man, as he has been for the last few seasons, is Ashley Jarvis. The forward has twice won the golden boot in the Eastern Counties League and last season scored 33 times in 44 appearances. He seems to have taken the step up this season in his stride and has 12 goals (7 in ILN) so far. He did pick up an injury in the recent draw with Concord Rangers, so I'm not sure if he will be available on Saturday.

Talented midfielder, Owen Lane, has contributed 5 goals (3 in ILN) and Charlie Barker also has 5 (2 in ILN).

Getting There

A coach is travelling up, leaving The Oak at 10.30am. Please do not be late.

If you are making your own way up to Mulbarton, the postcode for the stadium is NR14 8AE. It's just over 100 miles and should take just over 2 hours, traffic permitting.

Take the A12 North and then the A14 West. Turn onto the A140 and follow this toward Norwich. A couple of miles after the Long Stratton by pass, at the B1527 roundabout, turn left and head through Hapton to the junction with the B1113. Turn right here and after entering Mulbarton, turn right into The Common (Lower). At the next junction turn left into The Common and the ground is on the right after a couple of hundred metres.

There is a small car park at the ground, if you can't park here, double back to The Common (Lower) where there is a car park outside the primary school that you can use.

Summary

Our first ever meeting with Mulbarton Wanderers and the two teams are separated by a single place and just one point. Mulbarton have two games in hand over The Blues.

Both sides will be looking to bounce back from defeats; Mulbarton suffered a heavy defeat at Witham, while Grays could not overcome AFC Sudbury.

Please come and join us at the Adobe Arena and get behind Lewis Clark's team as we strive to get back to winning ways.

Away The Ath!!