11th February 2022
Thetford Town vs Swaffham Town @ Mundford Road - Thetford
Thurlow Nunn Premier Division (Step 5)
19:45 KO
£7 entry
Attendance - 202
Half-time score: Thetford Town 2-0 Swaffham Town
Goals:
Thetford Town: Clarke - 21'
Thetford Town: Campbell - 38'
Thetford Town: Campbell - 59'
Thetford Town: Campbell - 65'
Thetford Town: E. Smith - 71'
Thetford Town: Gilchrist - 81'
Leigh Simons recorded the goals, see the links below:
Final Score: Thetford Town 6-0 Swaffham Town
Today was a huge game for Thetford Town in this 21/22 season, a must win game against struggling neighbours Swaffham Town, and the first of a two-week turnaround double-header between the two sides. This was another Friday night game at Mundford Road, an upon arrival the car park was packed, the pitch looked in great shape and the place was buzzing with lots of Swaffham fans making the short drive down, moving the games definitely seems to be working well for the club. Adding to the excitement on this big day, Amazon Prime were in town to record some footage for a football documentary on the subject of equality in the game, with our very own player-manager Matt Morton being a pioneer as the highest level openly gay player, which is both a brilliant and a sad thing at the same time.
The Thetford line-up was very attacking, with Fuller, Gilchrist, Campbell, Varela and Elliot Smith on the team-sheet, and a new name in Kelvin Enaro, which was a nice surprise for me, I have seen him play many times at Lakenheath, including when he lifted the Suffolk Cup last year, scoring a great break-away goal in the final minute to seal the win. A fine player who will be an important addition and attacking outlet for the team.
Swaffham actually had the first good chance of the game in the 2nd minute from a free-kick from a dangerous position. Culpit struck the ball well, forcing a good save from Bugg who pushed it out for a corner. In the 5th and 6th minutes, Thetford had a couple of quick-fire chances, Gilchrist intercepted a weak back-pass, charged into the box, laid the ball back to Campbell, whose shot was blocked, rolled past Fuller who could not connect, and out for a corner. Gilchrist took the corner and went low to Elliot Smith on the edge of the box, and with some great skill, he chipped over two Swaffham defenders, regained possession, squared the ball, captain Bondy picked up the pieces and the ball was back with Elliot Smith whose shot was wide. In the 9th minute, Swaffham went close again, an in-swinging corner from Yates forcing Bugg to punch clear.
From the 10th minute onwards, Thetford began to play some excellent football, launching wave after wave of attacks. In the 16th minute, Gilchrist stole the ball, played Fuller through, and as he was bursting through, a Swaffham player was bundled over, and it was adjudged to be a foul. In the 19th minute, Lake stepped up to take a free-kick, a perfect ball was pumped in over and behind the defence, Gilchrist, E. Smith and Clarke were all charging in, the ball missed the first two, but Clarke bundled the ball home at the far post, only for it to be ruled out for offside, it must have been a marginal call. In the 20th minute, new signing Enaro went on a tricky run down the left wing, and was taken out near the edge of the box to give Lake another good opportunity to swing in a dangerous ball, it looked to have beaten the Swaffham defence again, but the ball appeared to come off the hand of a Swaffham defender, but despite the protests, the referee waved play-on. Thetford finally found a way through in the 21st minute, Fuller, with his trademark long throw-in's, launched a screamer into the box, Clarke leapt the highest to nudge the ball towards goal, and it bounced into the far side netting to put Thetford a well-deserved 1-0 up in this crucial tie.
Thetford nearly added to this shortly after in the 24th minute, another dangerous free-kick from Lake was curled in, and this time Campbell attempted a backwards flick with his head, Elliot Smith nearly connected, and there was another goalmouth scramble where Swaffham were ultimately able to clear, but shortly after this, player-manager Matt Morton pinged a great ball forward to Elliot Smith, he ran forwards and squared the ball across the goal, Gilchrist could not quite get there, but Campbell had made a run to the far post, but at full-stretch, he was unable to convert into the open goal. Swaffham began to get back into the game, and the next 15 minutes or so were fairly even, but the high pressing from Thetford led to another chance in the 38th minute, a poor back-pass was picked up by Gilchrist, he burst through completely alone, 1-on-1 with the keeper, but the young lad Phillips stood his ground, and was able to make a great block. It was beginning to feel like one of those days for Thetford Town, but shortly after failing to convert this attempt, Thetford recycled the ball and Lake cracked in a strike from 30-yards out, forcing a good save from Phillips, but Campbell picked up the loose ball and he fired a low and powerful strike past Phillips and into the net, to give Thetford Town the all important breathing room before the half-time break, a huge moment.
In the second half, the first ten minutes were competitive, but after this, Swaffham heads went down as they were swept away by great attacking and defensive play from a motivated Thetford team firing on all cylinders. In the 54th minute, Elliot Smith put Fuller through 1-on-1, but his shot was wide. In the 59th minute, another poor touch from the Swaffham defence gifted possession to Gilchrist, he ran down the right flank and squared the ball to Campbell, in the middle of the box, who stroked the ball home to make it 3-0. Not long after this, in the 65th minute, Gilchrist showed blistering pace down the left wing to pick up a long ball that he had no right to get to, he squared the ball to Campbell who was running in from the right wing, and he slotted the ball across the keeper for a great finish to bag his hattrick and put Thetford 4-0 up. It was dreamland for Thetford, and in the 71st minute, substitute Jake Mann stepped up to take a corner, and he put in the perfect ball for Elliot Smith who headed home with aplomb, to put Thetford 5-0 up in their , a score-line that not even the most ardent fan was expecting in their wildest dreams.
Thetford did not stop there, and pushed hard for a 6th. In the 73rd minute, Gilchrist showed some great skill in and around the right of the box, but he could not find the space to strike, so he again squared the ball to Campbell who pivoted and struck the ball hard, blazing over this time. In the 76th minute, a long ball put Campbell through, he controlled the ball with his chest, beating the defenders and putting him through 1-on-1, but Phillips again stood his ground well to make another fine stop. In the 80th minute, Thetford had another free-kick, this time in the classic 'Ronaldo' position, and Lake stepped up, got the ball up and down well, but Phillips dived down to make another decent stop. I must say the youngster had made some good saves despite conceding a few, he should be proud of his performance. Thetford's persistent ultimately paid off, and they managed to get their 6th goal in the 81st minute, with a much deserved finish from Gilchrist to finally get on the scoresheet this evening. Jake Mann fired in another great corner, Clarke rose high to flick on the ball and Gilchrist prodded in an instinctive volley to beat the flailing Phillips, much to the delight of the Thetford crowd. The rest of the game was closed out by Thetford in second gear, with no real dramas at the back as Swaffham toiled but were unable to create any clear cut chances, to secure the much needed and valuable 3 points in this tight relegation battle, and in the process improving their goal difference, which could become important.
All I can say is WOW, that was a long time coming, an absolutely emphatic victory from the lads, in front of the Amazon Prime cameras too! They were sensational in attack and commanding and strong in defence, the clean sheet being the cherry on top of this impressive result, especially as Swaffham hardly troubled the Thetford goal. Even though it may be easy to get carried away with this performance against what is comfortably the bottom side of the league, I saw Swaffham play against Lakenheath and they looked dangerous on the counter, and they have had one or two decent results. This was the performance that I knew the team had in them, and they have been threatening this for a while, really building on the excellent performance against Walsham-le-Willows. It was brilliant to watch fluid attacking football, Gilchrist, hattrick hero Campbell, Enaro, Smith and Fuller linked up well, attacking at speed, Morton, Clarke and Bondy were solid in defence, Lake's set-pieces were sublime, Varela done great in a more defensive role. Bugg made a couple of important saves at the start of the game and the substitutes all made a positive impression in the game, especially Jake Mann with his set-pieces. Thetford have another Friday night fixture next week against promotion favourites Gorleston, and whilst this will be a tough fixture, I'm sure Gorleston will not be relishing it if the Thetford Town of today turn up. They also recently lost to Kirkley & Pakefield, so an upset is certainly possible, UP THE TOWN!!!
Line-Ups:
THETFORD TOWN: George Bugg, Sam Bond (C), Matt Morton, Joao Varela, Nathan Clarke, Jordan Lake, Michael Campbell, Elliot Smith, Ryan Fuller, Dan Gilchrist, Kelvin Enaro. SUBS: Jake Mann, Connor Balment, John Taylor, Adam Laker, Macauley Rodgers.
SWAFFHAM TOWN: Charlie Phillips, David Weaver-Pope, Harrison Culpit, James Karanicolas (C), Callum Madigan, Josh Malin, Jordan Tipple, Oliver Williams, Kieran Bruce, Harry Brookes, Bradley Yates. SUBS: Luke Fox, Charlie Lambe, Tom Jewell, Alfie Brindle, Alex Smith
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