22nd January 2022
Diss Town vs FC Parson Drove @ Brewers Green Lane - Roydon, nr. Diss
Thurlow Nunn Division 1 North (Step 6)
15:00 KO
£5 entry
Attendance - 79
Half-time score: Diss Town 0-0 FC Parson Drove
Goals:
Diss Town: Cawcutt - 73'
FC Parson Drove: Whitby - 89' (OG) (possibly)
Final Score: Diss Town 1-1 FC Parson Drove
It had been a long time since I last saw a game at Brewers Green Lane, so I made the short trip down the A1066 for their league game against FC Parson Drove, a team I had never seen and did not know an awful lot about, other than they are based in the Fens, east of Peterborough. With the family at a loose end, I decided to bring them along with me, it's a family friendly club with good facilities, such as a proper stand with seating and a nice club house. I had also promised a trip to the big Morrison's on the way back home which may have had something to do with it. Today was a big game for Diss, after an indifferent season, they were on a hot run of form at home, and on the cusp of the play-offs if they could maintain their form, so they were looking for a win. Diss had also signed Charlie Aulert from Mulbarton Wanderers, who coincidentally I saw get sent of against Thetford Rovers in the Norfolk Cup game back in December.
As ever, I picked up a programme, this one was £1.50. I'm not sure who printed it, but it was a nice programme, full of lots of stats and match reports for not only the first team but the reserve and youth teams too.
I sat in the stand to get a good view of the game, but when walking there I noticed that the pitch looked muddy and bobbly, with quite long grass, and this did have an impact on the game, the conditions certainly favouring long balls, and the defenders.
For the first 10 minutes, it was mainly Diss, who for their better play only managed a couple of shots from edge of box that were blocked. In the 12th minute, Parson Drove had a good attack, striker Lennon put in a through ball for the No.16, he got his shot off, but it was too close to Diss keeper Curl who got down to push the ball out, and a Diss defender beat a Parson Drove attacker to clear the ball for a corner. Buoyed by this chance, Parson Drove began to dominate the game, having a lot of luck down their right through Lennon and right-back Gary Smith, the latter looking like a very capable player. In the 24th minute, G. Smith, attacking down the right, put in a high cross, but it travelled goal-bound, beating keeper Curl, for it to crash into the crossbar and out. During this phase, Lennon got had through a couple of times, but was offside, with one the calls being very close.
In the 39th minute, Diss managed to string an attack together. A Baird free-kick was looped high towards the far post, top-scorer Bemrose charged in, got a good connection with his head, but hit nothing but side-netting.
In the second half, Diss started out the brighter team. In the 51st minute, from a poor headed clearance, Cawcutt was able to attack down the left wing, he played in a brilliant ball, and it looked like it would be a Sivakumar tap-in, but keeper Watson, with an outstretched limb, managed to get enough on it to push it out of his path. In the 54th minute, Cawcutt put in another good ball for Sivakumar, but he completely spooned his chance for the opener.
After the first ten minutes of the second half, the game was fairly even, and in the 67th minute, Parson Drove had a great chance, when Lennon finally managed to legally beat the offside trap, but for all his efforts, the shot was tame and easily saved by Curl. Diss finally found a way for a breakthrough in the 73rd minute. A ball was played into Bemrose, his first touch was good, but his second was poor, but this seemed to buy him some time and space as the defender was wrong-footed, allowing him to pick out Cawcutt, who ran through on goal, and calmly slotted past keeper Watson. There were shouts for offside, and it was certainly close, I was almost inline and I couldn't call it.
Parson Drove responded well, and in the 75th minute, a long ball was crossed into the box for G. Smith to head in, and despite it being a free-header, his effort was wide of the goal, a huge chance for an immediate equaliser. Diss pressed well at the end of the game, although chances were few and far between, with a fizzing snap volley from outside the box in the 88th minute, from substitute Hutt, being the best effort, but sadly it was too close to the goalkeeper. In the following minute, Parson Drove had a deep free-kick, the ball was looped into a dangerous position and came off a Diss defenders head and into the goal, much to the dismay of the local crowd. I am not 100% whose head it came off, but judging by the reaction, it was Diss Town captain Kehan Whitby.
Due to a long stoppage for an earlier injury, there was a lot of stoppage time to play, and Diss kicked up a gear to get the winner. In the 90th minute, substitutes Hutt and Curran combined well, and Curran showed some good skill to make space for a shot, the ball was travelling low towards the corner, but the keeper got down well to make a good save. In he 94th minute, there was a big penalty shout for Diss when Baird was brought down in the box, but the referee waved play on. It was a 50/50 for me, and could have gone either way, but I was the other side of the pitch at this point. Finally, Diss had the perfect chance to clinch the winner, in the 96th minute. They had a free-kick from a good position, and what ensued was a frantic goalmouth scramble, and at one point a Diss player managed a shot on goal from no more than 3 yards, but it went agonisingly wide of the upright. That was the final chance of the game, and it ended in a draw.
All-in-all, I think a draw was perhaps a fair result, both teams were equal for large parts of the game, although when Diss stepped it up a gear at the end they looked the better team, it is a shame that they did not do this earlier. The pitch certainly hampered the game, and I think it affected Diss more as they look to be a team who enjoy passing it around rather than lumping the ball forward. The play-off push is still on, but with the other teams having games in-hand, it is going to take some doing, and some luck. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the afternoon out, and the friendly welcome from the Diss Town staff, it is a great place to go and watch non-league football, and I will be back. It is just a shame that the longer season and lower number of league teams has meant no/few Tuesday night games, otherwise I suspect I would have been down more often. If I don't get down again this season, I wish Diss Town all the best following fixtures.
Line-Ups:
DISS TOWN: Alex Curl, Charlie Aulert, Harry Atkins, George Erith, Kehan Whitby (C), Stephen Vennell, Lagshan Sivakumar, Lee Sim, James Bemrose, Thomas Baird, Spencer Cawcutt. SUBS: Harry Hutt, Alex Curran, Matthew Wilson.
FC PARSON DROVE: Aaron Watson, Gary Smith, Josh Gear, Callum Brown (C), Adam Jackson, Ben Calvert, Kev Smith, Robert Harris, Ryan Lennon, Nicholas Davey, Teddy Haime. SUBS: Shane Knight.
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