3rd January 2022
Haverhill Rovers vs Thetford Town @ The New Croft - Haverhill
Thurlow Nunn Premier League (Step 5)
15:00 KO
£6 entry
Attendance - 136
Half-time score: Haverhill Rovers 2-0 Thetford Town
Goals:
Haverhill Rovers: Williams - 12'
Haverhill Rovers: Ambrose - 33'
Thetford Town: Laker - 80'
Final Score: Haverhill Rovers 2-1 Thetford Town
It has been a long time coming, but I was excited to be back to watch some Thurlow Nunn Premier action and to watch Thetford Town play away at Haverhill Rovers. My wife is from Haverhill, so we met up with some of her family and I went across to the game with her Uncle. This was a big game for both teams with it being so tight at the bottom, and due to the inconsistent number of games played, it is hard to see where each team really sits, so the best thing is to just get as many points as possible to build that points buffer from the drop zone. I was at the reverse fixture earlier in the season when Thetford romped home to a 4-2 win, however, since then, Haverhill have a new manager, a revamped team and have been getting some good results of late, therefore I felt this one could be too close to call.
As I suspected, the game started out evenly, with Thetford playing some nice football on the ground, and Haverhill opting to lump the ball forwards, but neither team were creating any notable chances. That was until the 12th minute, when midfield demolition man Romanos won the ball for Haverhill in a dangerous position, he passed to Oteng who whipped in a cross from a deep position, and it swung right onto the head of Williams, who had got in front of his defender, and he nodded home at the near post to make it 1-0.
Following the goal, Thetford began to struggle, and they were losing the midfield battle, with the aforementioned Romanos seemingly covering every inch of the field and cutting out every move Thetford tried to put together. In the 16th minute, Ambrose attacked down the left flank, cut in at by-line and flashed a shot across goal that appeared to hit the far post and go out for a throw-in. In the 23rd minute, right back Buffin sent a dangerous ball into the box, Morris looped a header to the far post and the onrushing Ambrose was close to tapping in, but could only find side-netting.
Thetford managed to put together a dangerous move in the 25th minute, good skill from Felgueiras on the edge of the box gave him some space to dink a ball across to Smith, whose header was looping into the top left corner of the goal, but Kimber managed to pat the ball down, it bounced in the box, but nobody from Thetford had followed the ball in and Kimber was able to comfortably claim the ball, a frustrating moment for Thetford.
After this, Haverhill continued to dominate proceedings, and in the 27th minute, Stoker hit a stinging shot at the far post that was pushed out by Bugg for a corner. From the resultant corner, Oteng whipped the ball in, and Williams nearly got his second goal, his header going just over. In the 33rd minute, Haverhill won a free-kick on the edge of the box after Ambrose battled through 4-5 challenges, before eventually being brought down. Oteng had hit one from a similar position earlier in the game, and he stood over the ball, but as he started to run up, Ambrose sprinted in from the other side, looped the ball over the wall and it arched into the top left corner of the goal to make it 2-0 to Haverhill Rovers.
Towards the end of the half, Thetford got more into the game, and Felgueiras managed to put Campbell through on goal, 1-on-1, and as he was about to pull the trigger, Heydon slid in to push the ball out of Campbell's feet, a brilliant bit of last-ditch defending. There was nothing else of note and the whistle went to signify the end of the first half.
in the second half, it was a frantic start from the off, and Haverhill nearly got their third goal within the first minute. Williams was played through, he wrong-footed the last defender, was in on goal, fired off a shot, but it was well saved by Bugg, who managed to close the angle and get an outstretched leg to the ball. Bugg saved another good effort in the 54th minute, Ambrose unleashing a powerful shot from the edge of the area, but Bugg got down and pushed the ball out for a corner. His goalkeeping exploits were keeping Thetford in the game. Haverhill had another brilliant chance in the 56th minute, from a poor goal kick, Williams won the ball, played it into the box to Romanos who slid the ball into Morris, who was open in the middle of the area, but his shot was somehow blocked by Morton to prevent an almost certain goal.
Following this flurry of action, the game reached a stalemate, with both teams battling hard, but creating few chances. Haverhill began to bring on substitutes, and Thetford followed with a triple substitution of their own, bringing on three young guns in Visocanskis, Laker and Delgado to replace Campbell, Felgueiras and Vasileiou. The substitutions from both teams changed the complexion of the game, and Thetford found themselves on top and looking dangerous. In the 74th minute, Smith blasted a shot from 20 yards out that was heading for the top left corner, but was well stopped by Kimber. In the 76th minute, Thetford had two quick-fire shots, Visocanskis attacked down the right wing and squared a low ball into the box. Smith connected well, but his effort was saved, and from the deflection, Mann fired goal-bound but his effort was blocked.
In the 78th minute, Haverhill broke quickly courtesy of a long ball, Morris fired in a fizzing 20 yard strike, but Bugg was again equal to the effort. Thetford continued to pressurise the Haverhill goal, and in the 80th minute, they found the net in bizarre fashion. Thetford had a free-kick in the same position as the Ambrose goal. Young substitute Laker took the free-kick, and his effort was curling under the bar, but directly over the head of Kimber for what looked to be a comfortable save. What happened next I am not sure as I was the other side of the pitch, but it appeared that Kimber caught the ball and stumbled backwards, falling into the side netting of the goal. Whether this was Laker's goal or Kimber's OG I'm not sure, but we will give Laker the benefit of the doubt on this one.
Buoyed by the goal, the momentum had firmly swung in Thetford's direction, and they fought tooth-and-nail for an equaliser, but Haverhill played out the game well, with lots of niggly fouls and time-wasting play. The only time Thetford looked like equalising was in the 87th minute when Visocanskis attacked down the right wing, put in another good ball, Laker picked it up at the edge of the area and fired a shot that was deflected out for a corner. As the time wore on, Thetford got increasingly impatient, with Varela getting booked, and then Smith receiving a second yellow for a late clattering of the goal keeper to get himself sent off, meaning he will miss the Norwich United game on Friday night, a big loss for Thetford. The clock played down and the referee blew his whistle, and all 3 points went to the home side.
Despite the good end to the game for Thetford, there can be no arguments with the result, Haverhill were the better side and should really have had 4 goals, it was only the heroics from keeper Bugg that prevented this from being the case, giving Thetford hope of a stolen point in the dying embers of the game. The performance today, at time, left a lot to be desired, the main issue stemming from the midfield where they were outplayed for large periods of the game, and a lot of the balls forward were wild and inaccurate. However, the performance of the substitutes, Visocanskis, Laker and Delgado was impressive, and I hope that they can take this form on in the coming fixtures. From a Haverhill perspective, they looked a lot better compared to when I last saw them, with Romanos, Buffin, Ambrose, Williams and Oteng all putting in impressive performances, they do look a team transformed. But, with this loss, Thetford are now firmly back in the relegation battle, and need points soon. I hope that they can build on their performance in the final 20 minutes of the game and turn things around sooner rather than later. I will be at Thetford Town for the Friday night home tie against Norwich United, a tough fixture, but one I know the lads will be up for. UP THE TOWN!!!
Line-Ups:
HAVERHILL ROVERS: Dan Kimber, Charlie Buffin, Reiss Oteng, Efraim Romanos, Pele Heydon, Josh Hughes, Jake Williams, Freddie King (C), Joe Morris, Josh Ambrose, Tom Stoker. SUBS: Jack Martin, Alfie Carroll, Fin Long, Josh Fouche, Callum Stone.
THETFORD TOWN: George Bugg, Sam Bond (C), Andrew Cusack, Matt Morton, Connor Balment, Joao Varela, Jake Mann, Elliot Smith, Michael Campbell, Sonil Vasileiou, Bernardo Felgueiras. SUBS: Macauley Rodgers, Marley Delgado, Artur Visocanskis, Adam Laker, Emmanuel Akpan.
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