30th July 2024
Thetford Town vs Great Yarmouth Town @ Mundford Road - Thetford
Thurlow Nunn Premier Division (Step 5)
19:45 KO
£8 entry
Attendance - 147
Half-time score: Thetford Town 0-1 Great Yarmouth Town
Goals:
Great Yarmouth Town: Deeks - 45'+4', 54'
Thetford Town: Gilchrist - 60'
Great Yarmouth Town: Belmar - 72'
Final Score: Thetford Town 1-3 Great Yarmouth Town
The new season is certainly underway, the next game coming only three days after Thetford's solid away win at Brantham Athletic. This games marks Thetford's first home game of the season as they welcome newly promoted Great Yarmouth Town, a team with a solid fan base, a great nickname with 'The Bloaters' and also kicking off the season with a win against Long Melford. Promoted teams traditionally do well, so this was set to be a big test for a Thetford Town side with ambitions of another promotion push.
As always, I picked up a match-day programme, the new design looking simple yet neat, with a lot of claret. Barnes Print and only a pound, great combination.
It had been a hot summers day in Norfolk, with the evening cooling down nicely for the evening kick-off, to create near-perfect conditions. Onto the wonderful looking pitch the two teams lined-up, Thetford Town in claret and blue, with Great Yarmouth in their home amber and black colours.
KEY MOMENTS
TT = Thetford Town
GYT = Great Yarmouth Town
3' - GYT - Early chance for Great Yarmouth, Duffield fires off a speculative long-range strike, the Thetford keeper spills the ball and Fenn tries the follow-up, but Tom Smith just about gets there first.
5' - TT - A sweeping attack from Thetford, King tries to thread in Mann, the ball is intercepted and falls to Gilchrist who hits the ball first time from 20 yards, and curls it just beyond the top right corner of the goal.
16' - GYT - Great work by Fenn down the left wing, he drives a low hard ball across the box, begging for the tap-in, but somehow evades everyone.
18' - TT - From the midfield, Olpin fires in a low effort from 25 yards, it is well-struck and heading into the bottom left corner, but Ling gets down well to make the stop.
24' - TT - Grove intercepts a defensive pass and bursts forward on goal, he squares to Diggens but the ball is slightly behind, Diggens has to turn on the ball, he then takes a touch and blazes in an effort from just outside the box, the ball crashes into the side netting and it initially looked in, but sadly, the ball had travelled the wrong side of the upright, big let off for The Bloaters.
30' - GYT - Barber intercepts a loose ball and plays Couzens down the right, he takes it forward a couple of strides before finding Duffield, who shimmies into the box and cuts a strike across Tom Smith, but Tom gets down and gets an all important touch on the ball to concede the corner.
36' - GYT - Great Yarmouth batter the Thetford box, with multiple efforts flying in, the best from Barber which is brilliantly blocked by Elliot Smith, Thetford putting bodies on the line to prevent the opener.
38' - TT - Haylett is fouled on the right just outside the box, the referee waves play-on and King takes the ball into the box skipping past several challenges before being taken out for what looked like a dead-set penalty. Confusingly, the referee went back to the initial foul, so what was the point of playing advantage? Another let off for Great Yarmouth Town and a possible turning point in this tight contest?
45'+2' - GYT - Sam Adams hits an absolute belter of a strike from 30 yards, forcing Tom Smith to make a diving save on the stretch.
45' + 4' - GYT - GOAL (0-1) - Moments before the half-time whistle, Great Yarmouth Town snatch a goal, Thetford fail to effectively deal with a corner ball, it falls to Deeks who turns and volleys from inside he box, the ball hit with such venom that Tom Smith had no chance at all. It has to be said that it was a wonderful hit, but a disastrous time to concede for Thetford.
54' - GYT - GOAL (0-2) - Not long after kick-off to the second half, The Bloaters stretch their lead, the goal coming from yet another poorly defended corner kick, allowing Connor Deeks a free header, and he obliged to absolutely slam the ball home for his second of the night, stunning the home crowd.
60' - TT - GOAL (1-2) - Thetford peg one back, a quickly taken free-kick from Haylett finds King who bounds forwards and lays the ball across to Gilchrist, who in a bit of space in a central position has a dig from 20 yards out, absolutely leathering the ball beyond Ling, it crashing into the crossbar, slamming into the ground and back to ripple the top of the net, stunning hit from the Thetford Town favourite.
61' - TT - Thetford nearly equalise moments later, Grove darts down the left and squares the ball into the box, Elliot Smith is on it with a diving header but the connection is not strong enough and the ball is eventually collected by Ling, so close!
69' - GYT - Another corner causes chaos in the Thetford box, it is eventually recycled out to Belmar on the right who breezes past Olpin and curls a shot towards goal that forces Tom Smith to beat it away with his fist.
72' - GYT - GOAL (1-3) - The Thetford defence are under huge pressure and Grove attempts an ill advised cross field clearance, but there is not enough on it, Barber intercepts, strides into the box and his shot slams into the post and out, but Belmar is on-hand to fire home on the follow-up and restore The Bloaters two-goal lead. Great Yarmouth go on to close out the game in an impressive fashion, the defence holding firm.
What started a pretty even and competitive first half ended is a comprehensive defeat for Thetford Town, as newly promoted Great Yarmouth Town made it two-from-two. The optimist in me sees this as a game of moments that went against Thetford, had the Grove interception gone in, had the penalty been given, had Elliot's diving header gone in etc. it could have been a different game, the penalty decision being the bitterest pill to swallow. However, the realist saw a largely poor performance from Thetford Town, they looked frail in set-pieces and the attacks fizzled out due to inaccurate passing and making the wrong decisions in the final third. I do think we missed Kieran Money tonight, his link-up between defence and attack is invaluable, as is his work breaking down attacks, but this does not excuse the result. It does have to be said that Great Yarmouth Town were excellent, they were organised, broke fast, were aggressive in the press and fast to the loose ball, they are clearly still riding the crest of a wave and looked like a well-oiled machine. I had to laugh when the Amber Wave were singing that they are going up again after only two games, but Ipswich Wanderers achieved it in the 22/23 season so may not be as far-fetched as it sounded, but it is a gruellingly long season! Looking forward to the return leg, a trip to Great Yarmouth is always special, and their historic grandstand is well-worth the trip alone, even ignoring the fact the beach on only a few yards away. Back to Thetford Town, no time to dwell too long, learn the lessons and re-focus for Saturday, an FA Cup match away at Ipswich Wanderers and a chance for redemption against a higher level, yet familiar opponent, UP THE TOWN!!!
Line-Ups:
THETFORD TOWN: Tom Smith, Ryan Haylett, Dylan Grove, Jaydyn Lott, Sam Bond (C), Callum Olpin, Jake Mann, Cameron King, George Diggens, Elliot Smith, Dan Gilchrist. SUBS: Ryan Dickerson, Harvey Lott, Santi Davies, Liam Levy-Twomey, Malachi Wright.
GREAT YARMOUTH TOWN: Brandon Ling, Tyler Halliday, Mitchell Belmar, Ryan Jacobs, Connor Deeks, Sam Adams, Louie Duffield, Riley Wilson-Towns, George Couzens (C), Charlie Barber, Jesse Fenn. SUBS: James Cooper, Leo Spooner, Daniel Sacramento, Cameron Barnes, Jake Spooner.
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