24th February 2024
Brantham Athletic vs Thetford Town @ Brantham Leisure Centre
Thurlow Nunn Premier Division (Step 5)
15:00 KO
£9 entry
Attendance - 61
Half-time score: Brantham Athletic 0-1 Thetford Town
Goal:
Thetford Town: Avis - 25'
Final Score: Brantham Athletic 0-1 Thetford Town
Following Thetford Town's home defeat to Dereham Town on Tuesday, they had a chance to quickly recover with an away trip to the Suffolk-Essex border to face Brantham Athletic, a team currently 15th in the table. However, with new management in place, and with quite a few games in hand over the teams close to them, Brantham are better than the table suggested, making this another tough game for the boys in claret and blue.
Upon entry, I was glad to see printed programmes on offer, so picked one up for £1, great value for a decent full colour programme.
The pitch looked heavy and bobbly, with the grass on the long side, which was going to work against Thetford's typical playing style, but I was thankful the game was on with a host of cancellations in the region following the recent deluges. Despite the recent rain, it was a mild and sunny day, with a chilly edge as the sun drew in late in the second-half. Onto the pitch, hosts Brantham Athletic lined up in their navy blue home shirts, with Thetford Town in their home claret and blue kit.
KEY MOMENTS
BA = Brantham Athletic
TT = Thetford Town
11' - TT - Olpin feeds the ball out to Laker on the right-wing, he darts forwards and cuts in, and as the space open up he bends in a strike, but he didn't quite wrap his foot round the ball enough, allowing keeper Shorten to make the stop.
24' - TT - Keeper Shorten is put under pressure by Avis and his clearing kick from the edge of the area drops to his strike partner Gilchrist, seeing the keeper off his line he immediately goes for a 25yard lob, but there is not quite enough height on the ball allowing the scrambling keeper to catch it, close!
25' - TT - GOAL (0-1) - Immediately after, Thetford win back the ball, Avis latches onto a ball dinked in from the midfield, and on the bounce lofts the ball over the keeper from the edge of the box, the ball nestling neatly into the net. A cool finish from the leading Thetford Town goalscorer to give Town an all important lead! [Apologies I did not catch who got the assist, as I was taking my notes for Dan's lob attempt, happy to update if someone tells me.]
29' - TT - Another swift Thetford Town through Laker down the right, he gets into position to whip the ball in and mishits it towards the keeper, Shorten fumbles and goal-poacher Avis was straight onto the ball, but the keeper recovered well to smother the ball.
37' - BA - SIN BIN - Striker Louie Bloom receives a yellow card for dissent, and is sent to the sidelines for 10 minutes, missing out the rest of the half.
53' - BA - Brantham start the second-half well and are on-top, and get their first opportunity courtesy of a fortuitous ricochet from a Thetford clearance which spins out to Bloom on the left, he squares to Wrathall who is open on the right and he takes the ball through into the box, but under immense pressure from the scrambling defence, his shot is straight at Tom Smith for a relatively comfortable save, big let off for Thetford!
55' - BA - Brantham are dominating the game, and following sustained pressure from a corner, the ball falls to captain Alfie Owen-Jones on the edge of the box, whose snap volley is struck wonderful, fizzing just over the bar and smashing into the stanchion.
73' - TT - Substitutions and a formation change from Thetford Town see them begin to regain control, and they get the prefect opportunity to seal the game. Gilchrist, displaying his now trademark trickery ties up the Brantham defence down the right and gets in behind them then along the byline, seeing captain Elliot Smith open at the edge of the box, he squares back and Elliot side-foots the ball towards the bottom left corner of the goal, it looks in but curves just wide, hopefully one they would not end up ruing.
Despite Brantham Athletic trying everything to score an equaliser, Thetford Town stood firm and managed to limit them to half-chances, and had regular forays forward themselves as they closed out a huge win securing a massive three points, and securing another clean sheet in the process. It was a hard-fought battling game on a difficult pitch, and whilst it wasn't pretty, it was appreciated by the travelling fans. Thetford were the better side in the first half, but Brantham came out the second-half all guns blazing and were unlucky not to bag a goal. Their dominance forced Thetford to make changes, with substitutes Cameron King and Ryan Fuller having a big impact when they came on. Big shout out to Ryan who was thrust on as centre back and won every header as Brantham relentlessly pumped the ball forwards, he was a rock at the back in the closing quarter of an hour. The young Brantham side should take pride in their performance, they put in a big shift and gave Thetford a scare, I'm looking forward to the return fixture in a couple of weeks as we host them at Mundford Road. Next up for Thetford Town is a third attempt at their quarter final against Lakenheath, with the venue now shifted to Mundford Road this coming Tuesday evening, here's to hoping the rain stays away, UP THE TOWN!!!
Line-Ups:
BRANTHAM ATHLETIC: Finn Shorten, Leo Morley-Robertson, Charlie Howlett, Iuri Fernandes, Alfie Owen-Jones (C), Charlie Canham, Max Wilcox, Adam Wrathall, Louie Bloom, Ollie Godbold, Omari Obwoya. SUBS: James Lee, Ben Pratt, Liam Battersby, Jasper Pearce, Shaheen Temory.
THETFORD TOWN: Tom Smith, Dylan Grove, Adam Laker, Hugh Cullum, Jaydyn Lott, Kieran Money, Jake Mann, Elliot Smith (C), Shaun Avis, Dan Gilchrist, Callum Olpin. SUBS: Ryan Fuller, Cameron King, Ryan Haylett, George Diggens, Malachi Wright
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