17th August 2021
Mundford vs Heacham @ The Glebe - Mundford
Anglian Combination Premier (Step 7)
19:30 KO
Free entry
Attendance - approx. 80
Half-time score: Mundford 0-3 Heacham
Goals:
Heacham: Flanagan - 21'
Heacham: Defty - 35'
Heacham: Tann - 43'
Heacham: Davies - 54'
Heacham: Davies - 65'
Heacham: Flanagan - 72'
Mundford: Standley - 75'
Final Score: Mundford 1-6 Heacham
I went into this game with a lot of anticipation, this being Mundford's first home game of the 21/22 season. Watching Mundford at The Glebe were probably my favourite games of the last season. When the Mundford team came out from the dressing rooms, I only recognised 3 players in the starting 11 from the April squad that competed in the Norfolk Cup, namely the Walters brothers (Jim & Tom) and striker Olly Standley. It would seem that quite a few first team players were missing from this Tuesday night fixture, and it is also the case that Mundford have lost a few players in the off-season. I am aware that two players, Lee Sim and Harry Hutt made the jump to Step 6 to join Diss Town and presumably 1 or 2 players joined Bruno Tavares when he became the new Thetford Rovers manager. During the warm-up, I also spotted Ben Coe lining up in grey and white for Heacham, so that explains where he has ended up.
Looking at Heacham, they are a newly promoted side, and it is their first time playing at this level. Nevertheless, they look like a very professional side and they have excellent infrastructure, their ground for instance has to be Step 6 level. They also appear to have a decent fan base, bringing at least 30 fans, all decked out in Heacham branded coats and jackets, not something you see all that often at this level. The Heacham fans had all arrived at The Glebe early, thus allowing them to take over the John Marston stand, and during the game they made a decent amount of noise. To add to the intrigue of this game, it has to be noted that there was a nasty and unfortunate incident the last time these sides met during a friendly in April 2021. During that game, that Heacham edged 4-3, Heacham player Ben Oliver suffered a horrific injury that required required major surgery, from which he is still recovering from. I am sure that this gave Heacham even greater motivation to get the win under the floodlights.
From the whistle, Heacham came out fired-up and dominated the game from the get-go. In the 3rd minute there was a scramble from a corner, but it was collected by Mundford keeper Rider just before the Heacham player was able to connect. Heacham looked dangerous from set-pieces, and their next chance came in the 14th minute, again from a corner. Rider came out and missed the ball, but somehow so did all the Heacham players. Heacham finally made the breakthrough in the 21st minute, some neat interplay and direct running from Flanagan and Lammiman saw Flanagan through on goal and he slotted home.
Heacham kept the pressure on Mundford and were hunting for more goals, coming close again in the 25th minute. The Coe pinged a long, high ball out to the right flank that Davies picked up. He ran into the box and got off a shot that was parried away by Rider, with Flanagan unable to convert the rebound. Another ball was pinged out to the right flank in the 35th minute, Davies took control of the ball, ran towards the goal-line and was able to arrow in a cross that flew to directly to the open Defty, allowing him a simple header to stretch the lead to 2 goals.
The game was all Heacham, and in the 43rd minute, a Heacham corner came through to Flanagan on the opposite flank, he whipped in a cross, and this time Tann headed home, 3-0 to Heacham. Just before the break Heacham got in another header from a corner, but this time it crashed into the crossbar and was subsequently cleared out. Heacham were certainly dominating the aerial battles in the Mundford box and they had their opponents on the ropes.
In the second half, Mundford looked to come out more positively, however, Heacham were organised and compact at the back, and the midfield and forwards pressed hard, causing most attacks to fizzle out before they really got going. Heacham looked a really well drilled side. As Mundford pressed to get a goal to start the comeback, it opened up a lot of space at the back and Heacham began firing over long balls, and long range through-balls, and in the 54th minute, one of these paid off, Davies getting through and slotting home, 4-0 to Heacham. Punctuated by a rare Mundford chance, a good ball putting Standley through to only see his shot saved, Heacham got their 5th of the night, largely similar to their 4th. Another long through-ball was hit to Davies, he managed to get and maintain control of the ball, whilst battling with two Mundford defenders, and lash home the 5th in the 65th minute, a very impressive display of strength and determination from the attacker.
Heacham attackers Flanagan and Davies were running the Mundford defence ragged, and in the 72nd minute a poor Mundford free-kick deep in their half was intercepted by Flanagan. He ran through from the half-way line, made it to the Mundford box and let rip a cracking strike that went agonisingly over, it would have been the goal of the night had it gone in. Nevertheless, only seconds after this, Heacham got their 6th, substitute Winner laying the ball through to Flanagan who made no mistake this time to get his 2nd of the evening. Mundford did manage a consolation goal in the 75th minute via an Olly Standley free-kick that went in low to the keepers right, but after that the game fizzled out, despite Mundford toiling to try and get a 2nd consolation goal to improve their goal difference.
All-in-all, Heacham look to be an ambitious, well-drilled, impressive looking outfit, and if they can perform like this, can certainly have a say on the promotion race. From a Mundford perspective, the performance was pretty dire, but it is not clear how much of this is due to a weakened squad caused by missing players, or Heacham being fired-up to get a result for Ben Oliver, or a combination of the two. As Mundford encouragingly beat Blofield United 3-0 away from home, I hope this result is just a blip and that they are able to quickly move on from this. Unfortunately, Mundford don't have a favourable fixture list, 2 more away days on the cards, with Dussindale & Hellesdon Rovers up next, another decent side! However, I am hopeful that Mundford can improve on the performance today, I for one hope to never see another performance like that at The Glebe this season. UP THE STAGS!!
Line-Ups:
MUNDFORD: Joseph Rider, Rodrigo Fonseca, Johnny Conroy, Tom Walters (C), Richard Williams, Murray Burt, James Walters, Henri Arnold, Olly Standley, Jake Bogle, Callum Benham. SUBS: Jake Hodges, Domingos Serrano, Charlie Read
HEACHAM: Sam Pishorn, Freddie Collison, Liam Mitchell, Benjamin Coe, Edward Tann (C), Matt Goss, Sam Lammiman, Royce Rawlings, Jack Defty, Nathan Davies, John Flanagan. SUBS: Ben Dear, Joshua Winner, Adam Reeve
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