Harleston Town vs Thetford Town @ Wilderness Lane - Harleston
Norfolk Senior Cup Round 2 (both teams Step 5)
20:00 KO (delayed 15mins)
£5 entry
Attendance - TBA
Half-time score: Harleston Town 1-1 Thetford Town
Goals:
Harleston Town: Oliver - 28'
Thetford Town: King - 36'
Thetford Town: Gilchrist - 53', 73'
Thetford Town: Machaya - 90'
Final Score: Harleston Town 1-4 Thetford Town
Another Tuesday night, another cup game, but this time it was for the Norfolk Senior Cup, a prestigious local cup competition with the chance to play at Carrow Road in the final, so it was a big game for Thetford Town, with the only thing missing from this incredible season being a cup run. However, the draw was yet again unkind to Thetford Town, pitting them fellow Thurlow Nunn pace setters in Harleston Town, a team that they recently drew 1-1 with at home. However, I went into this game, my first time at Wilderness Lane, with some confidence after the performance against Ely City, and the fact that Thetford had the better chances in the game against Harleston Town, although I knew that it was not going to be easy.
The drive was not too bad, along the A1066 through Diss, then up the familiar A143 a short distance with the ground appearing not long after the turn-off, through the disconcerting road closed signs but it panned out ok. It was clearly a village pitch converted for the Thurlow Nunn league with green anti-climb wire fences around the pitch and dog walkers and other town folk catching a glimpse of the game from outside the perimeter.
As ever, I picked up a programme for a pound, another classic Barnes Print example.
It was a calm yet drizzly autumn even, and both teams came out in their home shirts, Harleston Town in the black and white with yellow accents, and Thetford Town in claret and blue. Interestingly, striker Ryan Fuller was starting in the centre-back position, presumably as cover for players unable to make the game.
KEY MOMENTS
HA = Harleston Town
TT = Thetford Town
5' - HA - The ball is chested down to the No. 9 who cracks off a shot from just outside the area, whistling narrowly over the bar, but the second it was struck keeper Tom Smith knew it was heading over.
7' - TT - A long ball from Fuller in the centre-back role is allowed to bounce and Diggens pounces on it, his shot across the face of goal just wide.
10' - TT - A ball crossed into the box is dealt badly by keeper Pride and it roles outside of the box to the captain, Cusack, who lashes in a low driven effort, forcing a good stop from the keeper.
18' - TT - King does brilliantly to keep the ball alive and in doing so he squares the ball out to Gilchrist to put him through down the left, but keeper Pride is off his line fast, closes down the angle and makes a save to deny Thetford the opener.
24' - HA - Captain Borrer is threaded through, he squares the ball back to the No. 8 to tee him up nicely, but he fails to make the most of the chance and his effort goes wide.
28' - HA - GOAL (1-0) - Harleston Town attack, and during the first wave the linesman waves for offside, but the referee ignores this and allows play to continue, Harleston regain position, Borrer is put into a dangerous position where he makes a deep run, squares to winger Aedan Oliver who finishes past the stricken Tom Smith, an annoying goal to concede owing to the refereeing mistake.
31' - TT - Thetford keep their cool and try to make amends, and Diggens has a chance on goal from the ground, but his makeshift effort is saved.
33' - TT - A free-kick in a dangerous position is taken by Lake, his curling effort flashing just over the bar, seemingly taking a touch from the keeper but a goal-kick is given.
36' - TT - GOAL (1-1) - A poor kick from keeper Pride finds Gilchrist, he immediatley plays in King who finishes well to get a swift equaliser for Thetford.
38' - HA - A shot from inside the box from goalscorer Aedan Oliver takes a cruel bounce, deflecting up to hit Tom Smith high in the chest, he loses possession and two Harleston players have a stab at the ball, the No. 9 and the No. 7, but each time Smith is just about able to make the block, and the ball is eventially cleared.
45' - TT - A venomous Cusack cross finds Gilchrist in the box, his reactionary effort flying over the bar, a great position but a difficult one to control.
45' + 2' - HA - Aedan Oliver bursts into the box, and makeshift centre-back Fuller makes a superb tackle just before he is able to pull the trigger.
51' - HA - A long ball punted up the field finds the No. 8, he feeds captain Borrer and his effort is batted away by Tom Smith to concede a corner.
53' - TT - GOAL (1-2) - Machaya makes a run into the box, shuffles to the side and plays the ball inside to Gilchrist, he takes one touch then blasts in a effort from just inside the box, flying like an arrow into the front bottom right corner of the goal, hitting one of the wheels and bouncing out, but thankfully the referee sees this one and rightfully awards the goal.
58' - HA - A powerful strike from Hitch at the near-post forces Tom Smith to make yet another quality save.
73' - TT - GOAL (1-3) - One from the training ground, a short free-kick is played to King, he feeds Machaya who bursts into the box and squares to Gilchrist whose strike flies through the legs of Pride and into the net to give Thetford that all needed breathing space. An absolute beauty of a free-kick routine, was great to see it pay off at an important point in the game.
81' - TT - Thetford break quicklythrough a long ball blasted up the field, Diggens turns quickest where his pace will clearly have the better of the defender, so the defender decides to rugby tackle him to the ground. I was somewhat surprised that only a yellow was shown as Diggens would have been through on goal all alone.
90' - TT - GOAL (1-4) - The cherry on top as Diggens intercepts a loose ball, he plays King down the left flank, despite having played 90mins, he absolutely flies down the wing, takes the ball into the box, evades the attention of 2-3 defenders and at the last second squares to Machaya, who under no pressure slots home to put the result beyond doubt, ensuring Thetford are into the 3rd round of the Norfolk Senior Cup.
92' - HA - In the dying embers of the game, Aedan Oliver is played through, but Tom Smith rushes out quickly, makes himself big and makes a fantastic save with his outstretched leg to deny him the consolation goal.
Wow, what a thrilling game of football, with plenty of chances from both teams, and possibly one of the best Thetford performances I have ever seen as they turned over an extremely well organised and classy opponent to pretty much humiliate them on home soil, absolutely fantastic. Every man put in a huge shift, nothing was left out on the pitch and it was magnificent to watch, but in amongst this, special mention does have to go to Ryan Fuller playing centre-back, and as he grew into the game he was imperious and was even starting to ping out dangerous long balls over the top, a wonderful performance against a tough side. Harleston Town looked threatening at times, and if they took their chances it could have been a different game, but truth be told their goal was fortuitous following the refereeing calamity and Thetford dominated the 2nd half so it was the right result. I love the Norfolk Senior Cup, and I hope Thetford can make a good go of it, I eagerly await the draw for the next round where some big guns in the form of Dereham Town & Wroxham enter the fray. As a glutton for punishment, I will most likely be watching Col U lose on Saturday as I take in what is likely to be my last game of 2022 for the U's, but I hope that Thetford are able to get a result at home against Brantham Athletic to maintain their advantage at the top of the table, UP THE TOWN!!!
Line-Ups:
HARLESTON TOWN: Elliot Pride, Aedan Oliver, Jake Anema, Olly Ebbage, Charlie Hitch, Sam Borrer (C), Josh Durham, Joe Manning, Nathan Page, Ryan Crisp, Rob Turner. SUBS: Mark Shadrack, Henri Arnold, Matthew Cook, Mitchell Belmar, Nathan Russell.
THETFORD TOWN: Tom Smith, Adam Laker, Matt Morton, Ryan Fuller, Andrew Cusack (C), Jordan Lake, Jake Mann, Emmanuel Machaya, Cameron King, Dan Gilchrist, George Diggens. SUBS: Macauley Rodgers, Connor Balment, Santi Davies.
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