25th August 2023
Thetford Town vs Harleston Town @ Mundford Road - Thetford
Isuzu FA Vase First Qualifying Round (both Step 5)
19:45 KO
£8 entry
Attendance - 241
Half-time score: Thetford Town 4-0 Harleston Town
Goals:
Thetford Town: King - 16'
Thetford Town: Mann - 23'
Thetford Town: Gilchrist - 37'
Thetford Town: Money - 45'+3'
Harleston Town: Ebbage - 51'
Thetford Town: Avis - 88'
Leigh Simons recorded the goals, see the links below:
Final Score: Thetford Town 5-1 Harleston Town
Despite it being early doors this season, Thetford Town face another cup game, this time in the FA Vase, where they were drawn at home against Harleston Town. With the cricket season still in full flow, the game was moved to the Friday evening, which does also seem to attract larger crowds. Harleston Town have built on their strong 22/23 season, strengthening the squad with big name signings at this level such as Chris Henderson and Liam Jackson, so I was anticipating a tough encounter, but hoping for a win as a mini-cup run would certainly be an enjoyable experience for the fans.
I grabbed the FA Vase special programme, and was pleased to see two of my reports printed, thanks to everyone who organised this, it is great to see.
On this FA Vase evening it was a cool and dry evening, and the pitch looked immaculate, cut short to suit Thetford's fast flowing on the floor game. Thetford Town were out in their home claret and blue, whilst Harleston Town were in their home black and white strip with yellow accents.
KEY MOMENTS
TT = Thetford Town
HA = Harleston Town
8' - TT - Things open up for captain Cameron King and he takes the chance to hit a clean strike from 25 yards, but it flies just wide.
9' - HA - A corner ball is swung in at the far post, a Harleston player gets a touch and it is heading in, but Diggens in on the back post and is able to clear off the line.
10' - HA - Harleston are awarded a wide free-kick in a dangerous position. It is swung in towards the far post and Ebbage's headed effort is deflected wide for a corner.
16' - TT - GOAL (1-0) - A fine backheel from Gilchrist releases King down the left wing, he glides forwards, dissects through the centre of the first two defenders, cuts it past the third, then rifles the ball beyond Pride, a brilliant goal from the captain to get Thetford off the mark.
23' - TT - GOAL (2-0) - King spots the run of midfielder Jake Mann into the box and precisely slides the ball through the defence, Mann does not even need to break stride and he fires the ball past the on-rushing Pride with his first touch, and just like that Thetford are 2-0 up, what a ball from the captain to set that one up!
29' - HA - RED CARD - A firm challenge goes in from Harleston striker Liam Jackson, after which I was following the ball when I missed the red card incident, seemingly some afters following the challenge. I did hear what supposedly happened, but as I did not see it I will leave it at that, but regardless of what happened, bad news for Harleston Town being down to 10-men already trailing 2-0, they were in for a long evening indeed!
37' - TT - GOAL (3-0) - King picks up the ball in the centre and another pacey yet perfectly weighted ball sends Gilchrist through, he strides forwards into the box and lifts the ball past keeper Pride, who goes down injured after being clattered by one of the back pedaling defenders, but for Thetford Town, more swift work sees them punishing Harleston Town.
45'+3' - TT - GOAL (4-0) - Before half-time, Thetford bag the killer blow, from the edge of the box, King lays the ball back to Money who blasts through it with his laces from 20 yards, and his daisy cutter of a strike arrows into the bottom far corner of the goal, what a hit!
51' - HA - GOAL (4-1) - Harleston come out in the 2nd half with something to prove, and even with a man down, they begin to dominate the game and the inevitable goal comes. Harleston are awarded a free-kick, it is curled in towards the far post by Durham, where Ebbage makes no mistake this time round to firmly nod the ball into the net, well deserved.
69' - HA - Henderson sprays the ball out to the right, substitute McGeachy manages to wriggle through, his shot across goal has Tom Smith beaten, but having seen the threat, Cullum had positioned himself on the line and he makes an all important block.
75' - TT - Some neat interplay between Gilchrist and King in the box results in a shot from the latter, but his effort scoots just wide.
79' - TT - Winger Haylett makes a lung-busting run through the centre of the park, shrugging off challenge after challenge, he gets into a shooting position but as he strikes the ball bobbles and his effort curls away from goal, so close to a phenomenal goal!
88' - TT - GOAL (5-1) - Thetford seal the deal, substitute Grove unleashes his pace and leaves the Harleston defenders trailing in his wake as he powers forwards with the ball down the left wing, he cuts across and feeds Avis on the edge of the box, he himself steps through a challenge, opening up the space affording him a couple of touches to set himself up to stroke the ball into the net, a calm finish from the centre forward.
STOPPAGE TIME - TT - Thetford finish on a high, some great runs from Grove and Haylett almost result in the 6th goal, and the keeper also manages to claim a loose ball the second time of asking under immense pressure from Gilchrist as he looks to poach his second, but they survive the late barrage and Thetford have to settle for 5 as the final whistle is blown.
An emphatic win against a strong opponent sees Thetford Town progressing into the next round of the FA Vase, where they will travel back into Cambridgeshire, this time to face St Neots Town. As Thetford took their chances, Harleston lost their discipline and ultimately paid the price as Jackson was red carded close to the half-hour mark, all but sending Harleston crashing out of the Vase. Thetford stuck the knife in and scored 2 further goals in the first half, allowing them to cruise through the 2nd half in 1st gear, although it has to be said that the 10-men of Harleston Town certainly salvaged a bit of pride from their gutsy 2nd half performance. However, when Thetford put the pedal down again, they scored the 5th and made enough chances to score another 2 at least as the game drew to a close. I was not expecting such a convincing win, another amazing performance from the team, driven by the talisman Cameron King, it was thoroughly entertaining, and sets up a fantastic away tie at St Neots Town in what will be a new ground for me and one I'm certainly looking forward too. I will miss the next game against Woodbridge Town due to being away on holiday, and this looks to be a big game as Woodbridge have been strong so far this season so I'm a bit gutted. Thetford Town now have over a week to recover and plan for this game, I hope they put in another strong performance to continue the brilliant start to this season, UP THE TOWN!!!
Line-Ups:
THETFORD TOWN: Tom Smith, Ryan Haylett, Ryan Fuller, Hugh Cullum, Adam Laker, Kieran Money, Jake Mann, Cameron King (C), Dan Gilchrist, George Diggens, Shaun Avis. SUBS: Callum Olpin, Sam Bond, Dylan Grove, Matt Morton, Isaac Gilby.
HARLESTON TOWN: Elliot Pride, Josh Wells, Olly Ebbage, Joe Manning, George Barber, Josh Durham, Sam Borrer (C), Chris Henderson, Rob Turner, Nathan Stone, Liam Jackson. SUBS: Asa McGeachy, Ryan Crisp, Nathan Russell, Cam Russell.
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