Ground #418 - Dairy Hill

Date: 26th September 2026
Location: Halesworth, Suffolk
Ground: Dairy Hill

My third new ground of 2026 was on Saturday 26th September at Dairy Hill in Halesworth, Suffolk. The game was Halesworth Town vs. Holbeach United in the Eastern Counties League Division One North.

Dairy Hill is a sports complex in the north-east of the town with the football club counting the town's tennis club, bowls club and martial arts centre as neighbours to its south. Beyond these to the south are housing and this is also the case to the west along with an NHS surgery. There is a college building to the north and fields to the east. The ground is just 200 yards from the town's railway station and half a mile from the town centre.

The entrance to the ground in the south-west corner is positioned by the main club building. This building houses the club bar and dressing rooms. Heading round the west of the field there is a gazebo with picnic benches within, a food outlet in a shipping container known as 'Mandy's Shack' and then just before the half-way line the sole seating area - a 100-seat covered metal stand.

The only other structure is a small covered flat standing area behind the southern goal. Other than this the rest of the southern end and the whole of the northern end have a strip of hard standing with large grass areas behind. The eastern side of the field is not accessible by spectators though the two dugouts and a digital scoreboard can be found on this side.

Halesworth were top of the table going into this game with eight wins from their opening eleven matches. Holbeach were right in the middle of the table in 10th at this early stage of the season. This turned out to be a game of two sections - the first two-thirds comfortably managed by Holbeach with the final third dominated by Halesworth. The visitors got on their way in the 20th minute when they were given a penalty for a trip on Alpha Wurie. Kelvin Ibeneme calmly stroked his penalty to the keeper's bottom right. Home keeper George Macrae saved a low shot from Wurie just after the half-hour mark but in the 41st minute with Wurie causing problems again, the Holbeach man's shot from the right deflected off a Halesworth defender and ended in the net to extend the away side's lead. The game appeared to be done and dusted in the 65th minute when a ball up to Patrik Kacirek saw the Holbeach attached twist and turn past a home defender and poke the ball slowly past the keeper into the bottom corner to make it 3-0. This however, spurred the hosts into action and barely 60 seconds later the deficit was back down to two with Cameron Russell's low drive from outside the box going in off the post. The lead was reduced further seven minutes later - Callum Bell's long-distance effort was palmed out by keeper Jack Sellars but straight to Lewis Chenery close to goal and he smashed home. In the 76th minute a corner was headed onto the away goal's post and a couple of minutes before the end of normal time a throw-in into the box found Lewis Chanery who blazed over. The hosts kept up their siege of the backtracking visitors and in the 92nd minute Macaulay Holt curled a shot from the edge of the box into the far corner to level the game at 3-3. With more injury time to play the hosts smelt blood but in the 96th minute this enthusiasm saw Shaun Whiteman receive his marching orders after launching a wild flying challenge on Holbeach keeper Sellars as he tried to score the winner. The entertaining second half concluded shortly after this red card with Halesworth securing a point from 3-0 down.

Result: Halesworth Town 3-3 Holbeach United

Division: Eastern Counties League Division One North

Attendance: 129