Ed Upson, the scorer of the goal which won Town the FA Youth Cup in 2005, has announced he is hanging up his boots, aged 35.
Upson was still a 15-year-old schoolboy, not listed in the programme and unfamiliar to even some U18s regulars when he came off the bench in the 104th minute of the second leg of the final against Southampton - a team which included David McGoldrick, Theo Walcott, Adam Lallana, Leon Best and Nathan Walcott and with a 14-year-old Gareth Bale an unused sub - at Portman Road with the tie still locked at 2-2 from the first match at St Mary’s.
And two minutes from the end, Upson won it, smashing a loose ball into the net from just outside the area, beating the keeper to his right to claim the trophy for Town for the third time, the club having previously won it in 1973 and 1975.
Upson subsequently signed professional at 17 and went on to make two Carling Cup sub appearances for the Blues under Roy Keane following a spell on loan at Stevenage.
Another loan at Barnet followed before he joined Yeovil on a permanent basis in July 2010 and following that the midfielder had stints with Millwall, the MK Dons, Bristol Rovers and back at Stevenage, before returning to Suffolk and Stowmarket Town in 2022.
In 2023, he signed for hometown club Bury Town and last month ended his career in the same manner it had started, smashing a dramatic winning goal in the 93rd minute of the Isthmian League North Division play-off final against Brightlingsea Regent to secure promotion for Cole Skuse’s side.
Bury’s assistant manager Paul Musgrove paid tribute to Upson, telling Suffolk News: "Ed has been huge for us, absolutely huge. He’s someone that carries himself extremely well and while I wouldn’t say he’s a natural leader in the sense that he doesn’t shout and scream, he goes about his business quietly and with class.
"His quality always showed, he was always passing on little bits of information to the lads and I think having him in the group calmed people down.
"He’s right up there as one of the best players I’ve seen in the non-league game and that isn’t always the way when players drop down from being professional.
"I go back a long way with Ed and it’s tough to see him go. We’ll miss him a lot but as a friend I couldn’t be happier for him to go out in the way he did. It was the perfect ending.”
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