23rd November 2021 Mildenhall Town vs Long Melford @ Recreation Way - Mildenhall Thurlow Nunn Premier League (Step 5)
19:45 KO £9 entry Attendance - 102
Half-time score: Mildenhall Town 1-1 Long Melford
Goals:
Mildenhall Town: Call - 5'
Long Melford: Griffiths - 16'
Mildenhall Town: Stewart - 52'
Leigh Simons recorded the goals, see links below:
Final Score: Mildenhall Town 2-1 Long Melford
With a slow down in the fixtures for the last couple of weeks, I jumped at the opportunity to go to another midweek Tuesday night game, down the A11 at Mildenhall Town. These fixtures are my favourite as it is something to look forward to at work. High-flying Mildenhall Town were hosting struggling Long Melford, so the expectation would be for a Mildenhall win, especially with striker Hall back from a spell at Newmarket Town. However, with Long Melford fighting for survival, I was expecting a defensive and battling performance from the visitors.
Before I go onto the match report, I noticed that the front cover of the programme changes each time, a nice touch.
Contrary to the form guide, Long Melford immediately took the game to Mildenhall, and shooting downhill, they managed two good attacks within the first minute, the balls into the box not quite finding the target men. Mildenhall weathered the first 5 minutes of pressure, then went up the other end to score with their first chance of the game, Chaplin stealing the ball high up the field, he passed Call in the box and he managed to make enough room to shoot across the keeper and into the ccorner of the goal to make it 1-0 to Mildenhall Town.
Mildenhall nearly added to this in the 9th minute, a recycled corner ball was crossed back into the box by Steed, but Call's header went wide. Despite the goal, Long Melford continued to attack, and in the 16th minute, they got their rewards courtesy of a fine strike from Griffiths. The ball was well won by Lopez, he fed the ball to Griffiths, and from 20 yards out, he drove a low powerful shot goalbound, and it clattered off the inside of the post and in, leaving goalkeeper Johnson in no-mans land.
Long Melford continued to create the better chances, and have the better of the play, and in the 22nd minute, powerful running from Wingfield allowed him to win the ball down the left wing, he squared the ball into the box, Day tried to turn it in at the near post, but it was deflected out for a corner. Mildenhall faced a lot of Long Melford pressure and stood firm, and towards the end of the half they began to create some good chances of their own. In the 35th minute, Call tried to turn in a cross from Nolan, on the volley, but his effort went wide. In the 43rd minute, a Mildenhall free-kick was sent towards the far-post, and following a goalmouth scramble the ball was cleared off the line. With Mildenhall due to shoot downhill in the second half, it was felt that Long Melford would regret not getting a second goal, whilst they were on top.
As expected, Mildenhall started strong in the second half, and in the 50th minute, Nolan nearly scored a special goal, a good through ball set him free, coming off from the right wing, he fired a cracking shot goal bound, but excellent reactions from keeper Henry allowed him to get a fingertip to the ball, and the contact was enough to divert its flight and it crashed into the crossbar and out for a corner. In the 52nd minute, after being on for less than a minute, substitute Stewart made his mark on the game, Mildenhall worked the ball through the crowded midfield, Stewart snapped off a powerful low strike from the edge of the box, and it travelled into the goal, underneath the keeper, making it 2-1 to Mildenhall.
After the second goal, Long Melford raised their game, but both teams cancelled each other out in the middle of the park, and neither team were able to create much until the 70th minute, when from a Long Melford corner, goalscorer Griffiths headed the ball onto the crossbar. Sensing a threat from Long Melford, Mildenhall pressed to put the game beyond doubt, and in the 72nd minute, Nolan played Hall in down the left wing, he ran into the box and blasted his shot wide of the near post. In the 82nd minute, Mildenhall had two big chances to get the desired two goal cushion, a shot from outside the box was spilled by the keeper, Nolan fired in the rebound, but an excellent diving save from Henry denied him again, but the ball fell to Hall, who snapped his shot straight at the legs of Henry, and out, Henry doing brilliantly well to stop a near certain goal, it was looking like it would take something special to score again tonight. In the 82nd minute, Mildenhall had another chance, a recycled ball from a corner was chipped into the box, and captain Butcher managed to beat his man and direct his header towards the goal, but it went narrowly wide. Long Melford finished the game strong, looking for the equaliser, but the Mildenhall defence stood firm, and they were able to prevent them from creating any chances of note, and they were able to close out the game to take home all the points.
Long Melford certainly played a lot better than I expected, and really took the game to Mildenhall, Judge and Griffiths looking particularly dangerous, and I would say that they were the better team in the first half. However, the quality of the Mildenhall strike-force proved to be the difference, allowing them to take home all three-points, and they also had plenty of chances to put the game to bed, Nolan deserving a goal but twice being denied by keeper Henry, and once by the offside flag. The win moves Mildenhall Town up to third in the table, and allows them to maintain the pressure on Wroxham. All-in-all, a very cold, but entertaining evening of football.
Line-Ups:
MILDENHALL TOWN: Louis Johnson, Charlie Hitch, Rob Ruddy, Luke Butcher (C), Darryl Coakley, Alex Steed, Phill Weavers, Scott Chaplin, Ben Nolan, James Hall, Tanner Call. SUBS: Dan Brown, Matt Green, Natty Stewart, Kaine Manels, Tom Walters.
LONG MELFORD: Dion-Curtis Henry, Dan Smith, Will Wingfield, David Lopez, Kalum Benham, Jake Jackson, Ben Judge, Jacob Brown (C), Jamie Griffiths, David Lorimer, George Day. SUBS: Hassan Ally, Elliot Walker, Jack Delaune, Jamie Bradbury, Steve Chisholm.
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