23rd August 2022
Dereham Town vs Stamford AFC @ Aldiss Park - Dereham
Northern Premier League Division One - Midlands (Step 4)
19:45 KO
£8 entry
Attendance - 154
Half-time score: Dereham Town 0-1 Stamford AFC
Goals:
Stamford AFC: Jack Duffy - 18'
Dereham Town: Clark - 62'
Stamford AFC: Jack Duffy - 82', 90'
Final Score: Dereham Town 1-3 Stamford AFC
The stand out fixture for me this evening was the one up at Dereham Town, a chance to see my first Northern Premier game, and a new look Dereham Town. Since Dereham were moved from the Isthmian D1 North to the Northern Premier D1 Midlands league there appears to have been quite a bit of turmoil at the club with the management team and most of the first team players exiting, presumably in part due to the extra travel that would be required in the new league, with many teams based out towards the West Midlands. Since then, new manager Tom Parke, drafted in from Mundford, has assembled a decent looking squad, with a familiar player to me in Valter Rocha leading the line, and culminating in some recent positive performances. I was also looking forward to seeing the standard of the league, with the visitors today narrowly missing out on promotion last year, so it was to be a good test for The Magpies.
There were sadly no printed programmes today, it sounded like there should have been some, but in the end all that was available was an on-line one which I have yet to look at.
The teams came out, with Dereham in their traditional black & white, and Stamford AFC in red.
KEY MOMENTS
DT = Dereham Town
SA = Stamford AFC
5' - DT - A stinging shot from Greenslade, from outside of the box, forces keeper Heath to make a save.
6' - DT - Swift steals the ball and feeds through Valter Rocha, the ball is a bit flat, but Rocha manages to re-position himself and cut in towards goal to fire in a shot from the edge of the area, but it goes wide of the far post.
18' - DT - Valter Rocha plays a ball across the mouth of the goal from the left-wing, and Gascoigne is millimetres away from sliding it in.
18' - SA - GOAL (0-1) - In the same minute, Stamford pump the ball up field and attack down the left, which results in Margetts firing in a shot from just inside the box, forcing a fine one-handed save from Bilham, but the ball falls to Jack Duffy who powers in from close-range at the near-post.
30' - SA - A big penalty shout as Margetts is brought down in the area, but the referee waives play-on.
47' - DT - A poor clearance from Stamford falls straight to Swift, whose half-volleyed effort is sliced wide.
62' - DT - GOAL (1-1) - Clark rifles in a 30-yard free-kick into the back of the net, off the inside of the near-post, giving the keeper no chance, a fantastic goal to bring Dereham deservedly level.
82' - SA - GOAL (1-2) - Dereham are pressing for a winner and a chance from substitute Carlos Rocha is blocked, the ball is cleared and Stamford substitute Morgan battles for the ball in midfield, gains possession and quickly puts in a through-ball to release Jack Duffy, he bursts into the area, and despite the attention of two defenders, slots in past the keeper to restore Stamford's lead.
90' - SA - GOAL (1-3) - Another quick break-away for Stamford releases Margetts courtesy of a long, cleared ball, he is through 1-on-1 but Bilham makes an excellent with his left-leg near the edge of the area, but Jack Duffy gets hold of the ball and deftly chips the ball over the back-pedalling Bilham for an emphatic hattrick, some clinical finishing from the striker proving the difference.
95' - DT - RED CARD - A second yellow card for Greenslade sees him sent off.
97' - SA - From the red card foul, Margetts steps up and hit a lovely free-kick, it has Bilham beaten and looks to be going in, but ricochets off the outside of the far-post and out.
All-in-all I think Dereham should be pleased with their performance, they largely nullified Stamford for most of the game, and once they equalised, they looked the stronger side, carving out the better chances. In the end, the finishing class of Jack Duffy proved critical, as he hit a clinical hattrick, two of which were cleaning up after fine saves from Bilham. On this performance, it looks like Dereham should be able to compete in this league, they just need to work on their defending from long balls when pressing high up the field, which proved to be their undoing tonight. A special mention to the Stamford fans, they really got behind 'The Daniels' and a fair few travelled the long distance from Lincolnshire so fair play to them. I hope to be back at Aldiss Park again soon, until then, I wish Dereham every success in their new league, representing Norfolk.
Line-Ups:
DEREHAM TOWN: Ross Bilham, Dion Frary (C), Aaron Powell, Nathan Edden, Richard Black, Chris Greenslade, Luke Johnson, Henry Clark, Valter Rocha, Joe Gascoigne, Ryan Swift. SUBS: Danno White, Carlos Rocha, Kai Thurston, Harry Gagen.
STAMFORD AFC: Ben Heath, Joe Burgess, Isaac Currie, Harry Vince, Kern Miller, James Blunden, Connor Furey, Jake Duffy (C), Jack Duffy, Jonathan Margetts, Cameron Johnson. SUBS: Michael Armstrong, Sean Wright, Rodrigo Goncalves, Robert Morgan, Michael Frew.
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