Town's reserves could play their home games at Ipswich Wanderers' Humber Doucy Lane ground next season. The Blues will again take part in the Football Combination East Division during 2010/11.

Ed Nicholls, chairman of the Ridgeons League club, says the move is being considered: “There is a possibility it might happen, but we can say no more at the moment.”

The Blues played most of their second string games at Portman Road last season with a few matches switched to the Playford Road Training Centre.

If the reserves do move to Humber Doucy Lane, it's not the first time they have played home games away from Town territory. Bury Town's Ram Meadow was the regular home venue in the mid-nineties.

Photo: Action Images

el_nino added 15:27 - May 28 Good, keep the pitch nicer for 1st team games.
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svendust added 16:27 - May 28 Have you seen the state of the pitch at ipswich wanderers!? I broke my arm on it last year it was so hard, i can only imagine the amount of injuries our reserves would get, plus i hardly think the pitch is good for youngsters looking to learn how to play football, i think it would make more sense to play at the training ground which i think is only a few hundred yards away isn't it?

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DebenBlue added 16:32 - May 28 Have to agree with Svendust. In the months of August, September and April the pitch can extremely hard, in winter it cuts up badly and is very boggy. Hardly condusive for a Reserve Side with young players trying to play football and the more experienced pros returning from injury or looking for fitness. I must also state that the facilities, showers, changing rooms etc are not the best either.

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hype313 added 16:56 - May 28 thats the whole point of doing this, do you not think that ITFC would sort the pitch out beforehand? its only over the fence from the rest of the training ground so wouldnt take much much, and I doubt the club would want to risk players on shoddy pitches
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lurcher added 17:08 - May 28 I can confirm that the deal will involve Town taking over the pitch maintenance and that the Town players will use the Playford road complex changing rooms. A gate will be built so that ITFC ground staff can access the Doucey from the Playford road site.
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Mungo added 20:59 - May 28 Sorry to hear about your arm Svendust. Hope it's better now. I can see the value in wanting to keep the Portman Road pitch in good condition, however I'm not sure it would be a good idea to risk reserve players (some of which will no doubt represent seven figure investment) on a sub-standard pitch. If the club can sort the surface out though, it sounds like a great idea and will also benefit Ipswich Wanderers.

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PurgamentumIneo added 18:10 - May 29 As long as they sort the pitch out its a good idea. At current the pitch is not up to ridgeons league football alone. Perhaps the idea to play there also makes the young players realise that they havn't made it and getting changed in the wanderers changing rooms might bring some of them down to earth. I imagine you could think you are bigger than you really are if you play at Portman Road every week as a 16/17 year old. Maybe a wise move from Keane to harden up these younger heads.

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