Needham Market player Patrick Brothers breaks leg and ankle against Nuneaton Borough while Stowmarket Town end Hashtag United's run

Needham Market have held two of the Pitching In Southern League Central Premier Central’s high-flying teams to draws over recent days – but it has come at a cost.

On Saturday, Luke Ingram’s first-half penalty earned the Marketmen a 1-1 draw from their home clash with fifth-placed Nuneaton Borough.

And that was followed on Tuesday by a 0-0 contest with title-chasing Coalville Town at Bloomfields.

However, those results somewhat paled into insignificance with the confirmation that key player Patrick Brothers suffered a leg and ankle break during the game with Nuneaton at the weekend.

A statement on the club’s website read: “This is terrible news and everyone at the football club passes on its best wishes to Patch for a full and speedy recovery.

“We would like to put on record our sincere thanks to our medical staff Bex and Emma who assisted Patch throughout the day, and we would also like to pay special thanks to the Nuneaton Borough physio Jamie Capes who assisted our own medical team initially and helped out covering our medical needs once the game restarted as Bex and Emma were looking after Patch.

"Further details will follow of a collection we will be doing for Patch at a forthcoming home fixture."

The incident occurred towards the end of the first half and brings memories of a horrific leg break suffered by former Ipswich Town player Bryorn Lawrence at the same ground in November 2021. That injury caused the fixture with Peterborough Sports to be abandoned.

Fourteenth-placed Needham, who are six points above the bottom four, head to Hednesford Town on Saturday (3pm) and host Barwell next Tuesday (7.45pm).

* Meanwhile, Needham Market Women will play East Bergholt in the semi-finals of the MH Goals Suffolk Women’s Cup on Sunday at Ipswich Wanderers FC (1pm).

The two sides had been due to meet last weekend end but the tie was called off because of a waterlogged pitch.

Stow stun champions elect

Stowmarket Town recorded the most eye-catching result of player-manager Chris Casement’s short tenure last weekend.

The Old Gold & Blacks headed into Saturday on a run of five straight victories in all competitions, but in Pitching In Isthmian League North Division leaders Hashtag United they faced the most formidable of opponents.

A run of 21 wins in a row had seen The Tags rise to the top of the table, usurping Stow’s Suffolk rivals AFC Sudbury and making themselves firm favourites to secure the title.

However, that extraordinary sequence came to an end at Greens Meadow, with Casement’s men chalking up a 3-1 win in front of a crowd of 734.

Former professional midfielder Ed Upson got Stowmarket off to the perfect start with a deadlock-breaking goal after just two minutes.

Jack Ainsley made it 2-0 on the stroke of half-time before Upson struck again in the 59th minute, with Hashtag pulling a goal back late on through Jermaine Francis.

The victory has left Stowmarket fourth in the North Division table with a four-point gap and a game in hand on the play-offs’ chasing pack.

They begin a busy period of four games in 10 days from Saturday with a trip to second-placed Sudbury (3pm). The two teams have met twice in recent weeks in the league and county cup, with Stowmarket winning on both occasions.

And that is followed on Tuesday by the visit of second-from-bottom Coggeshall Town (7.45pm).