23rd September 2023
St Neots Town vs Thetford Town @ Premier Plus Stadium - St Neots
FA Vase 2nd Qualification Round (both Step 5)
15:00 KO
£7 entry
Attendance - 265
Half-time score: St Neots Town 0-0 Thetford Town
Final Score: St Neots Town 0-0 Thetford Town (St Neots Town win 5-3 on Penalties)
Following Thetford Town's big victory against Harleston Town in the first qualification round of the FA Vase, todays game saw them travel into Cambridgeshire to face St Neots Town in the second qualification round, a team that they had not faced in a competitive game for nigh on 50 years! St Neots Town have spent much of their recent history playing higher level football, but last season they were relegated from Step 4 into the United Counties league. They play in the Premier Division South of this league and have had a strong start to the season, sitting 3rd with 8 wins out of 10 played. With Thetford Town also in a rich vein of form, it was sure to be a close encounter!
Upon entering the ground it was clear that they had spent a lot of time higher up the football pyramid, the facilities were fantastic. An immaculate pitch, a large modern stand, two multi-stepped terraces either end of the pitch, an electronic scoreboard, a great PA announcer and decent club house, all for only £7 entry! The only negative was the lack of a printed programme, although one was available for download, but a printed team sheet almost made up for this. Overall, one of the best non-league venues I've been to, would love to come back again for sure.
At half-time, I got the obligatory cheeseburger, the service was super quick and for £3.90 it was a large and thoroughly decent burger, not bad at all.
Before long, in a beautiful mild and sunny late September afternoon, St Neots Town came out in their home dark and light blue quarter tile shirt (much like Wycombe Wanderers), with Thetford Town also in their home claret and blue.
KEY MOMENTS
ST = St Neots Town
TT = Thetford Town
5' - TT - Avis feeds Laker who is open on the right side of the box, he powers in a strike, it is straight at keeper Goff, and even though it is spilled the covering defender quickly clears it up.
18' - TT - King takes a corner and hits the ball in low to find Gilchrist at the near post, he turns the defender and whips in a vicious shot but it goes into the side netting.
20' - ST - Johnson twists and turns and lashes in a shot across the face of goal, it is mishit and going wide but heads straight to Hatch lurking in the 6-yard box, he has an easy tap-in, but he side foots across the goal and wide. I can only presume the pace took him by surprise, big let off for Thetford.
24' - ST - Hatch steals the ball off Money and feeds Muyembe who powers forwards, there is support for him both sides, but he elects to take it all the way to the edge of the box where he shoots towards the bottom left corner, but Tom Smith gets down well to turn it away for a corner.
34' - TT - Some brilliant skill in the box from King sees him evade the sliding defender, he gets into position to fire in a shot at the near post, but it is turned away by Goff to concede a corner.
38' - TT - Some great attacking play sees Gilchrist find Avis in some space at the edge of the box, he tries a chipped shot, but it does not dip in time and heads over the bar.
40' - ST - A corner to St Neots Town, it is laid back and a neat step-over from Muyembe tees up Rowley on the edge of the box, and with plenty of space his shot skids wide of the goal.
59' - TT - Some intense pressure from Thetford Town and they probe in and around the box, Olpin takes the ball into the box and fires in a strike, it makes it through the mass of the bodies and is heading in, Goff only has a split second to see the ball, and he gets down to make a superb reaction save, pushing the dipping ball out to safety along the by-line.
63' - TT - Thetford continue to exert huge pressure on the St Neots box. From a corner, Laker recycles the ball and shoots, the deflection falls nicely to King and with the goal begging he hits in a side footed strike, it has the keeper beaten but is cleared from close to the line by a defender, so close!
65' - TT - A ball is whipped into the danger area, a defensive header falls to Gilchrist and he hits a snap volley with his left foot as the ball hits the ground, it is spinning into the bottom right corner, but Goff dives to make another fantastic save to deny Thetford Town.
87' - TT - From a St Neots throw in, Thetford steal the ball a launch a swift attack with King feeding Gilchrist in the middle, he cuts into the box and shoots, but the ball is deflected through the mass of trailing limbs, taking the sting off it, allowing Goff to make another important save.
94' - ST - In the dying moments of full-time, from a free-kick and low pacey ball is fired across the box, and it is turned narrowly wide off a Thetford player, to concede a final corner. With the game ending 0-0, it went straight into the lottery of the penalty shoot out.
PENALTY SHOOTOUT SUMMARY
ST - Brown scores, bottom left (1-0)
TT - Gilchrist scores, bottom right (1-1)
ST - Johnson scores, blasted in (2-1)
TT - King scores, sends keeper the wrong way (2-2)
ST - Muyembe scores, leaves keeper rooted to the floor (3-2)
TT - Avis misses, ball crashes into the left-hand upright and out (3-2)
ST - Reynolds scores, sends keeper the wrong way (4-2)
TT - Olpin scores, sends keeper the wrong way (4-3)
ST - Apat scores, Tom Smith gets a touch and tries to turn it over the bar, but there is too much on it and it flies into the top netting to send Thetford Town crashing out of the FA Vase. (5-3)
Heartbreak for Thetford Town in a game where they largely dominated the home team, a game where enough chances were created to seal the game, but unfortunately they were not able to find the mark. As Thetford ratcheted up the pressure, St Neots Town resorted to highly defensive football, with their only outlet being long goal kicks hoofed up the pitch for Hatch, so the result feels like a smash-and-grab as they were victorious in a game where they were second best. However, the St Neots defense were imperious today, the centre-back partnership of Apat and captain Lincoln proving a particularly tough nut to crack, cutting out attack-after-attack, and not allowing any clean breaks throughout the duration of the game, a fine defensive display. Once in the penalty shoot out, the St Neots fans got behind the goal and backed their team, but both teams were scoring good penalties with the game ultimately decided by the width of the post as Avis tried to tuck one into the bottom left corner, but getting it wrong by a matter of inches. Looking at the positives, St Neots Town, a team flying high in the United Counties Premier South, a team with fantastic facilities, were shook by the Thetford attack and resorted to loading their defense and sitting back. This show of respect demonstrates how good Thetford Town are, and with the added bonus of a clean sheet, they should take this into the league and focus on trying to gain promotion. A short turn around sees them face local rivals in a much anticipated game on Tuesday night, in a battle between two Breckland teams, as they travel up the A1075 to face Dereham Town, bring it on and UP THE TOWN!!!
Line-Ups:
ST NEOTS TOWN: James Goff, Rev Kalek, Tommy Reynolds, Josh Brown, Mert Apat, Kyle Lincoln (C), Tom Rowley, Dean Dummett, James Hatch, Magloire Muyembe, Sam Johnson. SUBS: Israel Ajana, Malaki Black, Demi Romeo, Nathan George, Harvey Williams.
THETFORD TOWN: Tom Smith, Sam Bond (C), Ryan Haylett, Archie Galley, Dylan Grove, Kieran Money, Adam Laker, Cameron King, Dan Gilchrist, Callum Olpin, Shaun Avis. SUBS: Ryan Fuller, Santi Davies, Malachi Wright, George Diggens, Macauley Rodgers.
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