FELIXSTOWE: Bad luck comes in threes – or so the saying goes – and supporters at Felixstowe and Walton United would certainly agree as yet another goalkeeper has been ruled out of the game with a serious injury.

Ben Hall, who plays for the youth team and was hoping to break into the seniors’ side this year, will be out until the end of the year after he broke his leg in two places while out sledging on Felixstowe seafront on December 20.

The 17-year-old was making the most of the snowfall –the heaviest the resort has seen in several years – with a group of friends when he careered off course and smashed into a car, leaving him with a serious compound fracture.

The West Suffolk College sports science student said: “I just managed to hit the back of a car and it snapped my leg in half.

“I was pretty worried to say the least.

“I was just scared about how I was going to get about afterwards and obviously how long I was going to be out of the team for – just when I could start walking really.

“It was hard to take but as long as I’m alright and I can eventually play again, then that’s okay.”

Ben was rushed to Ipswich Hospital by ambulance where he had to undergo emergency surgery to fit a metal pin in his leg, and was kept in hospital until Christmas Eve.

Doctors have told him he won’t be able to start training again until at least September, and it is likely to be next Christmas before he can start playing again.

This has dealt a bitter blow to his ambitions to get into the senior team as by the time he heals, he will be too old to compete for the under 18s side and will have to work even harder to make it into the senior side.

Ben, who lives just a few doors from the Dellwood Avenue ground, added: “My team mates have been dishing out the banter a bit, but I’ll still be down there to support them.

“I’m really aiming to get into the senior team. This is a setback at the moment, but once I’m back I’m sure it will be fine.”

But this is not the first injury to befall the local team.

Goalkeeper Liam Jones, 24, has been laid up since early October with a broken leg after falling awkwardly in his penalty area during a match against St Neots Town.

He had been running backwards to catch a corner and fell with all the weight on his ankle, leaving him out of the game for the rest of the season after having an operation to fit a metal plate on his fractured fibula.

And yet another goalkeeper, Jimmy Waters, dislocated his thumb twice – in the same match – against Walsham le Willows as he went to make a save but trapped his thumb between the ball and the goalpost.

He bravely played on with a little help from medics but ended the night in Ipswich Hospital instead of celebrating the win with his team mates.

Team bosses have insisted it is a simple run of bad luck, and are hoping their fortunes turn around for the rest of the season.

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