21st March 2023
Thetford Town vs Mildenhall Town @ Mundford Road - Thetford
Thurlow Nunn Premier Division (Step 5)
19:45 KO
£7 entry
Attendance - 171
Half-time score: Thetford Town 0-2 Mildenhall Town
Goals:
Mildenhall Town: Call - 31'
Mildenhall Town: Twinn - 35'
Mildenhall Town: Call - 66'
Thetford Town: King - 88'
Leigh Simons recorded the goals, see the links below:
Final Score: Thetford Town 1-3 Mildenhall Town
A big game for Thetford Town as they welcomed neighbours Mildenhall Town for a 2nd time in recent weeks, the first of which was called off due to a frozen pitch. Despite Thetford being top of the league, and Mildenhall in 7th place before kick-off, it was going to take a huge effort from Thetford to get anything. Recent results have certainly favoured Mildenhall, indeed, they had already inflicted 5-0 and 4-0 defeats this season, both at Mildenhall, one in the league and one in the league cup respectively. I for one have actually never seen Thetford draw, let alone win against Mildenhall, so I was hoping for that to change this evening!
It was a warm night compared to those of late, although rather windy, but it made a nice change for the players, with Thetford Town in their usual claret and blue, and Mildenhall Town in their home amber coloured shirts.
KEY MOMENTS
TT = Thetford Town
MT = Mildenhall Town
1' - MT - Steed intercepts the ball in a dangerous position and threads the ball out to the onrushing Bugg, he bursts through and hits a sweet strike, the ball going just over.
4' - MT - Bugg intercepts the ball in a deep position, he squares the ball in to Twinn who tries to roll the ball into the goal, only for it to be blocked off the line.
9' - TT - Diggens receives the ball on the right wing, he cuts inside and passes to Gilchrist, he has a shot from the edge of the area, forcing a save from Pope.
14' - MT - Alfie Connor slots the ball out to the right wing for the incoming Bugg, he bursts into the box and lashes a shot across the face of goal, his effort going narrowly wide of the far post.
15' - TT - Cusack chips a deft ball into the box, captain Elliot Smith carries out a spinning backheel and connects will the ball, it looked for a moment to be looping over the keeper and in, but it flew slightly too far and nestled into the roof of the net.
26' - TT - Following Thetford pressure from a corner, King powers in a shot from just outside the box, it crashes into a defender and falls to Gilchrist whose powerful strike at the near post forces a neat save from Pope to parry the ball out for another corner.
29' - TT - King hits a beautiful lofted ball over the defence for Diggens to pick up, he takes the ball to the byline then cuts the ball back to Laker, he fires in a strike from just inside the box, it has Pope beaten but it is cleared off the line by Cameron Watson.
31' - MT - GOAL (0-1) - Fuller slips and gifts the ball to Alfie Connor, he threads Call through, he skips over the sliding tackle of Morton to go through 1-on-1, but keeper Tom Smith stands his ground and shepherds Call to the byline, Call turns back and dances through several challenges before performing a beautiful to turn to send the defenders the wrong way, then smashes the ball into the goal through the gap. It has to be said, was an amazing piece of individual skill and a strong finish to boot, what a goal!
33' - TT - A King corner finds Diggens unmarked at the far side of the box, he controls the ball and pumps in a strike on the nearside, forcing Pope to come across and push the effort out for another corner.
35' - MT - GOAL (0-2) - From a Thetford corner, the ball is hoofed out, the Mildenhall attackers win the midfield battle to gain possession, the ball is then squared to Twinn who skips forwards, cuts in and unleashes a thunderbolt of the left-footed strike from 20 yards out, the ball zipping into the top of the net, beyond the reach of Tom Smith - what a hit!
45' - TT - King chips in a lovely ball into the box, new signing Godbold gets his head on the end of it, but the effort is directed straight at Pope for a relatively comfortable save.
66' - MT - GOAL (0-3) - During a rare foray forwards in the second half, Twinn picks up the ball on the left wing, skips through two challenges, powers towards the middle, where he picks out Tanner Call lurking in the right hand side of the box, and he slots the ball past Tom Smith with ease to all but kill off the game.
88' - TT - GOAL (1-3) - A consolation goal for Thetford, Gilchrist and King link up well on the edge of the box, Gilchrist is played in, he battles to win the ball which King swiftly picks up off him and hits a low drive into the bottom far corner of the goal, a neat finish.
90' - MT - Mildenhall counter, Call is through on goal, cutting in from the right flank, he looked certain to be claiming another hattrick against Thetford, his strike beats Tom Smith, but crashes into the post and out.
Another game against Mildenhall Town, and another big loss for Thetford Town, for whatever reason Mildenhall certainly seem to have the upper hand in this fixture, much to my dismay. Mildenhall flew out of the blocks quickly, but Thetford weathered the storm and began creating chances of their own at the other end, a Laker effort being cleared off the line. It was not until a slip that Mildenhall broke through, although Tanner Call still had a lot to do, the skill and finish was simply incredible. Thetford then went close to an equaliser before a swift counter-attack was finished with an outrageous strike by Twinn which completely knocked Thetford for six. Thetford spent most of the 2nd half camped out on the edge of the Mildenhall box, but they defended superbly and stopped any decent chances being created, it was like coming up against a brick wall. Eventually, Mildenhall broke and that man Tanner Call sealed the win, and although Thetford got a late consolation, it was too-little-too-late. The performance from Thetford wasn't terrible, but Mildenhall capitalised on their opportunities with some brilliant finishing, and worked hard to keep Thetford at bay. The loss sees their lead fall to only 1-point, adding even more importance to the next game away at Ipswich Wanderers. The defeat may not be a bad thing, hopefully this will give the Thetford team the hunger and desire to make amends, ready to give their all on Saturday, as I suspect nothing less will do against a side on an frankly ridiculous run of wins. One thing is for sure, it's going to be a spicy one, this is what football is all about, UP THE TOWN!!!
Line-Ups:
THETFORD TOWN: Tom Smith, Ryan Fuller, Matt Morton, Adam Laker, Andrew Cusack, Elliot Smith (C), Jake Mann, Cameron King, Ollie Godbold, Dan Gilchrist, George Diggens. SUBS: Jordan Lake, Emmanuel Machaya, Santi Davies, Sam Bond, Macauley Rodgers.
MILDENHALL TOWN: Josh Pope, Miles Smith, Darryl Coakley, Luke Butcher (C), Alex Steed, George Bugg, Tanner Call, Kieran Twinn, Casey Underwood, Alfie Connor, Cameron Watson. SUBS: Philip Weavers, Adam Capel, Josh Lee, Tommy Robinson, Toby Salmon.
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