David Hennessey hopes AFC Sudbury’s Weekend Pass will bring men’s and women’s fanbases together for key fixtures against Kettering Town and Ashford Town
AFC Sudbury are hoping to unite their men’s and women’s team supporters this weekend in a bid to help their flagship sides bounce back from some tough results.
The club have offered their first ‘AFC Sudbury Weekend Pass’ which at £15 for adults will provide discounted entry of £4 when attending matches on both Saturday and Sunday. The price for concessions will be £10 while under-16s will continue to be free of charge.
Marc Abbott’s men’s side will be looking for their home support to rally them as they bid to lift themselves out of the Pitching In Southern League Premier Central’s relegation zone.
But after a 1-0 defeat away to play-off hopefuls Stamford – thanks to Jack Duffy’s 77th-minute goal combined with a late penalty miss from Joe Neal – saw their winless run extend to eight games at the weekend, things do not get any easier with the visit of fourth-placed Kettering Town this Saturday (3pm), despite their visitors arriving off the back of three straight defeats.
Luke and Stefan Mallett’s team will also be looking to bounce back from defeat when they host basement outfit Ashford Town in the FA Women’s National League Division One South East on Sunday (2pm).
The Yellows, who are in a mid-table sixth spot after last season’s adjustment to Tier 4, returned from Real Bedford last weekend licking their wounds from a 4-0 defeat that left them without a league win in three matches.
One positive was they were able to give a debut to new signing Sheryce Slater, a centre-back from lower-level Needham Market who can also operate at full-back as she did at Bedford.
Men’s first-team general manager, David Hennessey, says he hopes the AFC Sudbury Weekend Pass will boost attendances across both fixtures while also having an impact on future numbers for their flagship sides.
“It's a good opportunity to showcase what the women's side are doing as well as us, and we just thought that by having a weekend pass whereby you'd get entrance to both games and the value that comes with the discounted prices on that, we could hopefully introduce more people from the women's game to the men's and vice versa.”
He added: “The support that we get home and away is crucial. They really do make their presence felt and at home, barring our more recent form, in the early half of the season that 12th man cliche was bang on because it was great. The boys really appreciate it.
“It really matters to the players and it's like Mark (Abbott) said that extra five, 10 per cent (that the fans can bring out of the players) can be the difference between picking up a point or picking up three points.”
The Kettering game will be the first part of a crucial four days for Abbott’s current third-from-bottom side who then travel to a Lowestoft Town side on Tuesday (7.45pm) who occupy the last safe spot, two places and two points higher than AFC who do hold a game in hand. The midweek fixture was originally scheduled for New Year’s Day but was controversially postponed within a couple of hours of kick-off due to a waterlogged pitch.
Reflecting on Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at Stamford, Abbott once again spoke about ‘fine margins’ going against them in his post-match interview on the club’s X account.
Looking ahead to facing Kettering, he said: “Obviously we’re underdogs and we like that, we’ve shown last year that when we’re underdogs we can step up, and we’re going to need everyone to step up moving forward, starting Saturday.”
