10th May 2024
Thetford Wanderers vs Bury Town Bisons @ Ram Meadow - Bury St. Edmunds
Premier Logos Floodlit Cup Final (Bury & District Sunday League Cup Final)
19:30 KO
£4 entry
Attendance - approx. 150
Half-time score: Thetford Wanderers 2-0 Bury Town Bisons
Goals:
Thetford Wanderers: Gibson - 26'
Thetford Wanderers: Dean - 29'
Bury Town Bisons: Walton-Ross - 87'(P)
Bury Town Bisons: Hogg - 92'
Final Score: Thetford Wanderers 2-2 Bury Town Bisons (Thetford Wanderers win 5-4 on penalties)
A beautiful warm Friday evening saw the Bury & Districts premier venue, Ram Meadow, host the Premier Logos Floodlit Cup Final, pitting their very own Bury Town Bisons against Thetford Wanderers. My interest was of course related to Thetford Wanderers with a host of familiar faces in the line-up from watching Thetford Town, Mundford and Thetford Rovers over the recent years. I don't watch enough of Thetford Wanderers, I have only been to a couple of games, but with kids and work I sadly cannot dedicate the whole weekend to football, however much I would love too! In any case, I was excited to go watch Thetford Wanderers as they went for a treble, having already won their league, which moves them up into the top division in the Bury & District League, and the Suffolk FA Sunday Shield! I hope some of this success rubs off on Thetford Town as they continue their mission to get into Step 4 amidst a host of controversy, will be a huge game Tuesday evening! Today's fellow finalists were Bury Town Bisons, who were in Division 2 with Thetford Wanderers and are seemingly affiliated with Bury Town being their official Sunday league side.
Upon entry, a small complimentary programme was handed out, I thought this was a nice touch.
Into the cool evening, with blue skies overhead, Thetford Wanderers lined up in their navy blue kits, with the Bury Town Bisons in yellow and black.
KEY MOMENTS
TW = Thetford Wanderers
BTB = Bury Town Bisons
24' - BTB - A neat 1-2 is played in the box to open up the space for the No.10, he powers in a shot at the near-post, but Humphrey dives across to put the ball out for a corner.
26' - TW - GOAL (1-0) - Gibson receives a short throw in, he turns and travels towards the right corner of the box, and with space he tries an audacious strike using the outside of his boot, it is struck sweetly and curls to the top left corner, keeper Stobbart stretches and manages to get something on the ball, but despite his best effort it drops into the net. Shades of Wes Burns' finish for his EFL Championship goal of the season!
29' - TW - GOAL (2-0) - Thetford Wanderers add a quick fire second goal. Sandell turns and sprints forward from the centre of the pitch and is taken out to win a free-kick. Hutt pumps a diagonal ball into the box, Sillet heads it towards goal but it rebounds of fkeeper Stobbart from near point blank range and falls into the path of James Dean who makes no mistake to blast in from close range!
51' - BTB - A long ball from the Bury Town Bisons captain, Asker, sees the No.10 in at the far-post, but his side footed effort on the half-volley is weak for a relatively comfortable save, should have done better.
70' - TW - Halen Smith finds Hutt inside the box, he side-steps the defender and powers in a daisy-cutter of a strike that is only just wide of the post, so close to a clincher!
87' - BTB - PENALTY & GOAL (2-1) - A Bury Town Bisons free-kick taken by keeper Stobbart is pumped into the box, players go down and a penalty is awarded. Owen Walton-Ross steps up and shoots, Humphrey guesses the correct way but the ball just evades his body, to set-up a frantic finish to the game.
92' - BTB - A long throw-in causes chaos in the box, the ball is eventually scrambled away for another thrown.
93' - BTB - GOAL (2-2) - A second long throw causes further chaos in the Thetford Wanderers box, with the bouncing ball pinging around before it is headed in at the far-post by Hogg. It looked like this one was going to penalties when only 10mins ago Thetford Wanderers were comfortably cruising to victory!
PENALTY SHOOT OUT
Hutt (TW) - SAVE (0-0) - Hutt's penalty is hit in the central area and saved by the keeper, poor start for the wanderers.
No.6 (BTB) - GOAL (0-1) - Ball hit into the top left, keeper had no chance.
Sandell (TW) - GOAL (1-1) - Calm penalty, sends keeper the wrong way
No.7 (BTB) - SAVE (1-1) - Low strike to bottom left, Humphrey dives and gets a fingertip on it, pushing it onto the post, the ball spins near the goal-line but does not cross!
Fancett (TW) - GOAL (2-1) - Cooly sends keeper the wrong way to slot into the empty net.
No.1 (BTB) - GOAL (2-2) - Absolutely smashed into the net, no stopping that!
No.2 (TW) - GOAL (3-2) - Sends keeper wrong way and plants into the top left corner.
No.9 (BTB) - GOAL (3-3) - Blasted into the roof of the net
Dean (TW) - GOAL (4-3) - Again, sends keeper wrong way to side foot in with ease.
No.15 (BTB) - GOAL (4-4) - Pressure penalty, scored with a cheeky Panenka!
Sillet (TW) - GOAL (5-4) - Into sudden death, Sillet steps up and powers the ball to the left and into the inside of the side-netting, assured!
No.17 (BTB) - SAVE (5-4) - Weak attempt, Humphrey drops to his left to make the save, and secure a famous treble for Thetford Wanderers!
At half-time, this one looked sewn up for Thetford Wanderers, and in the second half they created a lot of decent half chances to clinch the cup, but were unable to get that final touch on-point. This kept Bury Town Bisons within touching distance, and with 10 minutes to go they went all out route one, with long free-kicks and throw-ins the order of the day, and the tactic paid off as they pulled off the comeback in injury time! Thetford Wanderers could easily have lost their heads, especially after missing the first penalty, but they re-grouped with a series of neat penalties, with centre-back James Sillet's decisive strike into the inside of the side-netting proving to be the winning effort. Thetford Wanderers didn't do it the easy way, but they pulled off what they set to achieve, securing an impressive Sunday league treble to bring the trophies just over the border into Norfolk. Big congratulations to the staff, volunteers and players of Thetford Wanderers, what a wonderful achievement, and it was great to see a large group of loyal fans behind the team. Here's to more success in the 24/25 season!
Line-Ups:
THETFORD WANDERERS: Jamie Humphrey, Elliot Gibson, James Sillet, Kehan Whitby, Jordan Piggott, Steven Davies (C), Liam Levy-Twomey, Bradley Sandell, Halen Smith, James Dean, Harry Hutt. SUBS: Ian Fancett, Jamie Smith, Josh Underwood, Luke Lampon, Tom McDonald.
BURY TOWN BISONS (alphabetical): Kalum Benham, Harry Bentley, Joseph Bentley, Joe Hogg, Harry Moore, Oliver Selfe, Dan Stobbart, William Stobbart, Jack Stone, Owen Walton-Ross, Daniel Williams. SUBS: Liam Mills, Reece Newdick, Jack Wass.
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