19th October 2021
Mulbarton Wanderers vs Thetford Town @ Mulberry Park - Mulbarton
Thurlow Nunn Premier League (Step 5)
19:45 KO
£6 entry
Attendance - 108
Half-time score: Mulbarton Wanderers 1-0 Thetford Town
Goals:
Mulbarton Wanderers: Henery - 17'(P)
Mulbarton Wanderers: Doggett - 57'
Leigh Simons recorded the goals, see the links below:
Final Score: Mulbarton Wanderers 2-0 Thetford Town
Tuesday nights game was to be a tough test for a Thetford Town side that had gone unbeaten in seven, as they were away to a newly promoted Mulbarton Wanderers side that had taken the league by storm, currently battling for 3rd place. This was a new ground for me, the journey there was fairly simple, and the pitch itself looked perfect, it was dead flat and looked like it had been manicured, a perfect surface for some evening autumnal football. Biggest downside was that there were no programmes, that's the second TTFC away day in a row without a little memento.
The game started with lots of endeavour from both teams without either creating any real noteworthy chances, although Mulbarton were having the better of the play. With a strong right to left wind, long balls seemed to be the order of the day, and Mulbarton were firing accurate and dangerous balls over the top, one after the other, with captain Page giving a masterclass in this skill. The tactic eventually paid off when another Page long ball sent down the right side of the goal was chased by Whiting, he was adjudged to have been taken down in the area by keeper Rodgers, and a penalty was awarded. I was the other side of the pitch, but from a distance it did look to be the correct decision. Henery stepped up and sent Rodgers the wrong way to slot home and put Mulbarton 1-0 up in the 17th minute.
The long balls, along with some good pressing, continued to pin Thetford back, and in the 24th minute, Mulbarton had a chance to go 2-0 up, Jones finding Thompson whose shot went over. Thetford played themselves back into the game, and in the 33rd minute, a good cross in from Laker was met by Campbell, but his header went over. In the 35th minute, Laker himself managed a shot on target, and although it was at the keeper, he did somewhat fumble the ball, but managed to keep a hold of it.
In the 39th minute, Mulbarton went close again, Thompson fired the ball across the goal to Henery whose shot at the near post was well saved by Rodgers. The rest of the half was played without incident until 2 minutes into injury time when Cusack was sin-binned for dissent. When the half-time whistle blew, Thetford winger Campbell was seen hobbling off, never a good sign.
As feared, Campbell was taken off at half-time, replaced by Varela. Despite lots of pressure, Thetford saw off the first ten minutes, where they were down to 10 men, without much incident, although Mulbarton were dominating the territory and possession. In the 57th minute, Mulbarton finally broke through, a brilliant through-ball from Thompson to Oliver, who had timed his run to perfection, saw him through on goal, 1-on-1, he elected to shoot early and it was well saved by Rodgers, Oliver tried again from the rebound, and Rodgers palmed it out again, but it fell into the path of Doggett, who with a third bite of the cherry, chipped the ball over the keeper and defenders to make it 2-0 to Mulbarton.
Mulbarton nearly went 3-0 up in the 65th minute, a good move down the left wing saw Henery putting in Doggett, and his shot across the goal required an acrobatic fingertip save from Rodgers to put the ball out for a corner. After this, Thetford stepped up their intensity, and dominated the remaining 25 minutes of the game, but despite this, Mulbarton were well organised and resolute, meaning good chances were few and far between. In the 71st minute, Fuller, in a wide position, ran into the box and powered in a shot at the near post, but it was well saved. In the 80th minute, Visocanskis fired off a stinging shot that came off the keeper, but unfortunately there were no Thetford players nearby to poke it in and the ball was ultimately cleared. In the 86th minute, Mann felt aggrieved about a foul not being awarded and was also sin-binned for dissent. Thetford huffed and puffed but there was no way through the Mulbarton wall tonight.
Although Thetford will be disappointed to have lost their undefeated streak, they came up against a well organised, resolute team, who play the percentages and have an extremely effective long ball game, and can also play on the floor when it suits them. It is clear to see why they are battling for 3rd place. Thetford gave a good account of themselves, and were the better side for much of the second half, and deserved at least a consolation goal. There were some signs of ill discipline tonight, but I think the referee was the biggest factor in this, he seemed very sensitive to me, dishing out yellow cards like they were going out-of-fashion, for minor offences, and I suspect the sin-binnings were also a bit soft. This ultimately killed the game off for Thetford, playing with 10 men for the best part of 20 minutes. Thetford need to turn things around quickly for their FA Vase tie against London Lions on Saturday, but I think tonight was a good warm-up game, and they can be confident that they finished the game the better team. I hope the Campbell injury is not too serious, and I also hope Benny will be fit for this game. Although I cannot attend due to family commitments, I wish Thetford all the best with their London adventure. UP THE TOWN!!
Line-Ups:
MULBARTON WANDERERS: Thomas Wright, Kieran Smith, Tobias Oliver, Cain Eagleton, James Page (C), Dan Self, Tim Henery, Ben Jones, Ben Thompson, Sam Whiting, Dom Doggett. SUBS: Daniel Beaumont, Tom Baird, Ian Fancett, Elliot Altay
THETFORD TOWN: Macauley Rodgers, Sam Bond (C), Artur Visocanskis, Matt Morton, Andrew Cusack, Elliot Smith, Adam Laker, Jake Mann, Ryan Fuller, Sonil Vasileiou, Michael Campbell. SUBS: Marley Delgado, Johnny Conroy, Joao Varela.
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