10th April 2023
Mundford vs Beccles Town @ The Glebe - Mundford
Anglian Combination Premier Division (Step 7)
13:00 KO (delayed to 13:45 KO due to weather)
Free entry
Attendance - approx. 60
Half-time score: Mundford 1-2 Beccles Town
Goals:
Beccles Town: Tillett - 22'
Mundford: V. Rocha - 38'
Beccles Town: Bailey - 40'
Beccles Town: Sergeant - 59'
Mundford: C. Rocha - 85'
Final Score: Mundford 2-3 Beccles Town
With the Thetford Town away game called off, and the traffic to Colchester looking horrendous, I decided to head up to Mundford to see if the game was still on, despite the driving rain. Initial signs looked bad, there were some big puddles on the pitch, but with an improving forecast, and the Beccles Town team having endured a 2hr journey, the refereeing team sensibly decided to wait to see if conditions improved. Thanks to some feverish ground work, and with the rain stopping, the game went ahead at around 13:45 and the conditions were not bad at all, indeed, it was actually sunny for most of the game, so sensible decisions all-round. Whilst waiting, the tea hut was open so a nice warming cup of tea helped, as well as some pre-match chatter.
Heading onto the drying pitch were Mundford in their classic red and black stripes, and Beccles Town were in a yellow shirt, presumably their away kit.
KEY MOMENTS
MU = Mundford
BT = Beccles Town
2' - BT - Bailey hits a left footed strike from the edge of the area, forcing a diving save from Phillips as he turned the ball out for a corner.
7' - BT - The No. 10 launches a long ball from deep to release the No. 9 down the left, having outpaced the defenders, he drives forwards then squares the ball to the No. 12 who only managed to hit the post, to let Mundford off the hook.
22' - BT - GOAL (0-1) - The ball is passed back to keeper Phillips, whose kick away is underhit and falls straight to Tillet who makes no mistake to dink the ball past the panicking keeper to give Beccles an early lead, was certainly coming.
31' - BT - Tillet intercepts a relaxed pass at the back, he bursts into the box and fires off a shot, but defender Walters is just quick enough to get a foot in to concede the corner.
32' - BT - Beccles take a short corner, Tillet whips the ball in towards the far post, the No. 9 gets his head on the end of it, but he is always stretching and the ball flies over.
38' - MU - GOAL (1-1) - Carlos Rocha goes on a brilliant mazy run through the midfield, he threads the ball out to Valter Rocha coming in from the right, he takes a couple of touches, picks his spot and fires a brilliant curling effort into the top right hand corner of the goal to pull Mundford level.
40' - BT - GOAL (1-2) - Beccles reply quickly to kill off any sense of a surge from Mundford, but in the build up there is a big and, from my view, justified handball shout as Mundford were attacking. Perhaps distracted, Beccles are able to scythe through the Mundford lines, with a ball over the top from Storey falling to Bailey who pokes the ball on the bounce under the sprawling keeper.
44' - MU - Valter Rocha hits a free-kick from 20yards out, it is dipping into the bottom left hand corner of the goal, but keeper Bee gets down well to make a diving save.
50' - MU - Mundford are fired up in the 2nd half and begin to attack Beccles in waves. In one attack, the ball is crossed into the box, Levy-Twomey is at the far-post and he connects on the volley, but he is stretching and the contact is not good enough so his effort goes wide of the mark.
52' - MU - Valter Rocha shuffles the ball across to Carlos Rocha, in tonnes of space he hits a sweet left-footed strike to beat the keeper, but the ball clatters into the bar and out, so close!
53' - MU - Smalls whips in a ball from a free-kick, Levy-Twomey connects well with his head, but under little pressure his effort, whilst powerful, is wide.
59' - BT - GOAL (1-3) - Beccles attack down the left wing through Tillet and Bailey, the ball is squared into the box for substitute Sergeant who rifles the ball into the left-hand side of the goal, a great finish for a goal at an important stage of the game for Beccles, leaving it all to do for Mundford.
66' - MU - Valter Rocha is again able to shift the ball out to Carlos Rocha, the ball is travelling across him and he attempts a shot with his body in the wrong position, which sees his effort curl away from and wide of the post
73' - BT - From a corner, the ball falls to the No. 3, he takes a touch forwards and powers in an effort from 20yards out, it has Phillips panicked and he dives across, but the ball flies just wide of the post.
79' - MU - Valter Rocha has a free-kick attempt from 25-30yards out, it is audacious but well hit, the ball dipping and swerving on its way through, forcing the keeper to punch it out for a corner.
85' - MU - GOAL (2-3) - Winger Grove flies down the right-wing, stepping through challenges and into the box, he lays the ball off to substitute Dozier who fires in a shot across the goal and at the far-post, Carlos Rocha, a.k.a. Rudy, was waiting to poke in from close range. With 5 mins to go plus stoppage time, it was all out attack from Mundford as they went in search for the equaliser.
A brilliantly entertaining game as both sides attacked hard and went for the win, but ultimately, what appeared the more cohesive and organised outfit on the day took home the win, back to the Suffolk Broads. Whilst Beccles dominated the first half, Mundford came back strong in the 2nd and certainly made enough chances to at least get something from the game, but the 3rd goal proved to be the killer blow. The end of the game was frantic, and Mundford gave everything, but the strong yellow wall at the back held firm. Finally, a mention to the groundsmen, refereeing team and coaching staff, they worked hard and came to a sensible conclusion to see this game played out, I do think games are called off too quickly nowadays so it was great to see everyone determined to make a go of things, so a big thank you to all involved. I also found out after the game that the Beccles Town keeper was an outfit player, Steven Bee, who was making up for a lack of available keepers, I didn't notice so well done that man! I plan to see Mundford again before the season is up, an away game against local rivals East Harling, until then, I hope Mundford get more results to climb up the league, UP THE STAGS!!!
Line-Ups:
MUNDFORD: Charlie Phillips, Todd Hutcherson (C), Jim Walters, Dylan Grove, Pedro Fortes, Charlie Goodchild, Magic Smalls, Lee Sim, Liam Levy-Twomey, Carlos Rocha, Valter Rocha. SUBS: Gheorghe Vacarciuc, Ashton Dozier, Bruno Tavares.
BECCLES TOWN (alphabetical order): Luke Bailey, Steven Bee, Oliver Bell, Robert Bishop, Jack Gallagher, Ryan Hunt, Max Lane, Billy Shaw, Oscar Storey, Reece Tillett, Nathan Woods. SUBS: Raymond Masters, Tom Sergeant
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