2nd April 2022
Newmarket Town vs Thetford Town @ Tristel Stadium - Newmarket
Thurlow Nunn Premier Division (Step 5)
15:00 KO
£8 entry
Attendance - 135
Half-time score: Newmarket Town 0-1 Thetford Town
Goals:
Thetford Town: Campbell - 35'
Newmarket Town: Whitehead - 68' (P)
Thetford Town: Clarke - 88'
Leigh Simons also recorded the goals, see the links below:
Final Score: Newmarket Town 1-2 Thetford Town
Due to a variety of factors, such catching Covid and being away for work, I hadn't seen Thetford Town since the frustrating 1-1 draw at Swaffham Town, but they came into this crucial game on the back of an emphatic 4-0 victory against Ely City. In the return fixture earlier in the season, Thetford turned over Newmarket Town 3-1 in the torrential rain, but today was looking a lot brighter. Since then, Newmarket have been on better form, and recently they have won their last three games, including a surprise 1-0 victory away at pacesetters Wroxham. Thetford needed to ensure they got a result on their short journey down the A11 today, the relegation battle is getting tighter by the week, 3-points is now separating the 4 candidates for the final relegation spot.
This was actually my first time at the Tristel Stadium, and I was really impressed with the facilities, it has to be up there with the best in the Thurlow Nunn, an immaculate artificial pitch, a decent sized stand, a nice bar, food hatch (with a great cheeseburger!), digital scoreboard, announcer and even a big statue of a horse, this being the home of The Jockeys of course! The programmes were also really nice, printed by Newprint Ltd, the nicest non-league programme of the year, and still only £1.
From kick-off, Newmarket got off to an excellent start, creating plenty of chances to take the lead, whereas Thetford did not look to be at the races today (pun intended!). In the 3rd minute, a long ball was pinged up by Ben Robinson and Rodgers raced out to clear but there was a bit of a mix-up between him and Morton, resulting in Whitehead collecting the ball down the right, he ran into the box, and from a tight angle, and with Rodgers desperately back-peddling, his strike hit the near post and out, a big early let-off for Thetford. In the 6th minute, a long throw-in was flicked on by Whiting, onto Whitehead where he was open in front of goal, but his reactionary header was weak and collected by Rodgers. In the 11th minute, a free-kick from player-manager Shinn from a prime position flew narrowly over.
Having weathered the early barrage, Thetford began to wake-up and play themselves back into the game, looking dangerous on the counter. In the 16th minute, Gilchrist played Campbell through down the left, he was bearing down on goal, but was well pressured by the keeper and a covering defender, and his strike went well wide of the far-post, in fact it didn't even go out for a free-kick. In the 21st minute, Cusack cut out a Newmarket attack, released Campbell down the right-wing, who drove into the box and flashed a low shot wide of the far post. The following minute, Newmarket went close again, Joe Robinson stole the ball, laid it on to Whitehead who found a lot of space on the edge of the Thetford box and rifled in a shot that had Rodgers beaten, but it hit the post again, to be collected by a Thetford defender on the rebound.
Following the second strike of the woodwork, Thetford pushed up the field and began to attack the Newmarket defence in waves. In the 30th minute, a Cusack free-kick found Clarke at the far-post, he nodded down to Lake at the edge of the box whose venomous first time shot blazed over. In the 32nd minute, Visocanskis picked up the ball in midfield, battled to retain possession and managed to release captain Bond charging down the right wing, his cross was aimed at the open Laker at the far-post, but a small deflection from a defender took it out of his path and out for a corner. The pressure eventually told in the 35th minute, with the move initially starting through some great wide link-up play between Visocanskis, Cusack and Laker. Visocanskis made his way into the edge of the box, twisting and jinking his way in, he made the space to cross in a dangerous ball that was met by Campbell, who had got in front of his marker, to send the ball home and emphatically make it 1-0 to Thetford.
Thetford pushed hard for a second, and in stoppage time they came close, a Thetford corner fell outside the box to Campbell whose well hit strike was saved by Newmarket keeper Archer, and with that, the first half was over.
With the start of the second-half, Thetford continued where they had finished and pressed Newmarket hard for a second goal. In the 47th minute, Gilchrist, Campbell and Laker linked up well, with the latter firing in a shot from the left-hand side of goal that was well blocked by the defender. In the 57th minute, Clarke sent in a trademark long ball into the awkward space between the attackers and the keeper. This enticed Archer out but Laker easily beat him to the ball, and it was crying out for a chipped effort, but Laker elected to take a touch and blazed in a shot that was always rising.
As chances went begging for Thetford, Newmarket began to get a foothold back in the game, and went close twice in quick succession, during a period of dangerous set-pieces. In the 60th minute, a well taken corner from Shinn fell to Ben Robinson at the far post, he prodded the ball towards goal but it was deflected over the bar for a corner. In the 63rd minute, after another corner, Rodgers parried down a headed effort which fell to Whitehead but his close range shot, almost too close, was cut-out. In the 64th minute, Thetford went up the other end, Gilchrist bursting into the box only to have his cleanly hit strike, heading for the corner of the goal, blocked by a defenders leg.
In the 67th minute, a controversial moment saw Newmarket bursting forward, a ball was sent forwards for Whitehead to chase, Rodgers came out and missed the ball, but captain Bond was covering the danger. Under pressure from Whitehead, he knocked the ball out for a throw-in, but after this Whitehead crashed into Bond and went down, and for some reason the referee gave a penalty! I cannot see how this was a penalty as Bond got to the ball first and pushed it far out-of-reach of Whitehead before the contact was made, which was initiated by Whitehead in any case, a mad decision! In the following minute, Whitehead stepped up and slotted the ball into the low left corner to make it 1-1.
The goal gave Newmarket a lift, and they went awfully close to breaking Thetford hearts. In the 69th minute, Murphy ran down the right-wing and released Bennett whose good strike was heading for the near-post but it was well saved and held by Rodgers. In the same minute, Whitehead hit the woodwork again, a ball was played across to him just inside the area, his first time hit strike being turned over onto the crossbar by Rodgers, which was followed up by a turn and strike inside the box from substitute Gomarsall, which was again well saved. In the 71st minute, Whitehead found the crossbar again, he was given too much space in the middle of the park and cracked off a 20 yard strike that beat Rodgers, but crashed into the crossbar and out, almost a spectacular goal, and the fourth time hitting the woodwork today!
The Thetford goal was living a charmed life, allowing Thetford to soak up the pressure and begin attacking and pushing higher up the pitch, still in the game and fighting to regain the lead. In the 78th minute, Lake played a diagonal long ball to release Bond, he was through on goal and about to pull the trigger when substitute Gomarsall got a boot to the ball to push it out for a corner. In the 85th minute, Visocanskis showed some more skilful attacking play down the left wing and found Campbell in the box, he managed to get the ball out of his feet, take a step and fire in a shot, but his effort was wild and flew over the bar. In the 88th minute, Visocanskis flicked in a corner ball using heel, it flew high and was heading in at the far post forcing Keeper Archer to bat it away. It only went as far away as Thetford substitute Elliot Smith who fired in a shot across the mouth of the goal, this was cleared, but only as far as Clarke whose reaction shot was blocked, but it fell back to him, and having slightly more time to react, he took a touch and emphatically buried the ball into the back of the net to deservedly restore Thetford's lead, and to score yet another vital goal! In the final minutes of stoppage time, Newmarket so nearly crashed the party, a long-range Shinn free-kick was headed on by Joe Robinson and fell to captain Seymour, open at the far post. He chested the ball down and fired in a shot that was somehow kept out by Rodgers to secure the vital 3-points for Thetford Town! In the dying embers, Thetford broke quickly through Campbell, who fed substitute Enaro, he was in but his first touch was heavy and the ball was collected by keeper Archer, and shortly after the final whistle was blown.
That was a fantastic game, full of drama, and was end-to-end at times as both teams attacked and did not look to sit back, as Thetford completed a sensational double over local rivals Newmarket. Thetford started poorly, and could have easily been 2-0 down after 10 minutes, but once they got into the game they caused Newmarket a lot of problems, and largely looked resolute at the back. Whitehead was clearly the star man for Newmarket, and he was making chances out of nothing, and was having no luck this afternoon hitting the woodwork no less than four times! But Thetford took their chances well, and it could be argued that they also should have scored at least one more, so on balance, they were good value for their win. Each point is so valuable at this stage of the season, so to claim 3 away from home is huge, and will go a long way to hopefully securing another season in the Thurlow Nunn Premier. Thetford look like they will cause a lot of teams headaches on the break, Campbell and Gilchrist are linking up well, Visocanskis, Laker, Bondy and Cusack are all looking sharp down the wings, backed up the ever dependable pairing of Clarke and Morton, and with Lake spraying balls around and Mann fighting like a terrier in midfield, the whole team are playing well. Special mention also has to go to keeper Rodgers who again made a whole host of great saves to keep Thetford in the fight. Next up is a huge 6-pointer against Brantham Athletic at Mundford Road, and if Thetford play like they did today, excluding the opening 15 minutes, then they can be certainly confident going into the tie. I will sadly miss that game as I have pre-booked tickets for Col U, but I will keeping a keen eye on Twitter, and other than that I should be at all remaining fixtures this season. All that's left to say is well done lads, you made a lot of people proud today, keep it going and UP THE TOWN!!!
Line-Ups:
NEWMARKET TOWN: Alex Archer, Joe Robinson, Jack Whiting, Joe Bennett, Jon Carver, James Seymour (C), Ben Robinson, Kacper Brzozowec, Lewis Whitehead, Michael Shinn, Ethan Murphy. SUBS: Tom Stoker, Dan Hobbs, Ben Landshoff, Sam Gomarsall, Toby Egan.
THETFORD TOWN: Macauley Rodgers, Sam Bond (C), Matt Morton, Nathan Clarke, Andrew Cusack, Jordan Lake, Jake Mann, Daniel Gilchrist, Michael Campbell, Artur Visocanskis, Adam Laker. SUBS: Bernardo Felgueiras, Elliot Smith, Marley Delgado, Kelvin Enaro, Santi Davies.
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