30th September 2022
Walsham-le-Willows vs Thetford Town @ The Morrish Stadium - Walsham-le-Willows
Thurlow Nunn Premier Division (Step 5)
19:45 KO
£7 entry
Attendance - 83
Half-time score: Walsham-le-Willows 0-1 Thetford Town
Goals:
Thetford Town: King - 15'
Thetford Town: Gilchrist - 73'
Thetford Town: Diggens - 85'
Leigh Simons recorded the goals, see the links below:
Final Score: Walsham-le-Willows 0-3 Thetford Town
Thetford Town faced local rivals Walsham-le-Willows away for a Friday evening game, and the last time I was at Walsham-le-Willows away for an evening game it was also a wash-out. Regardless of the weather, and the form book, games against Walsham are always close, so I was expecting a tough game on the rain sodden pitch. Having looked through my notes, Walsham striker Jamie Smith has scored in all 4 of the most recent meetings between the two sides, all Walsham victories, so would he make it 5 tonight? One thing for certain was that Thetford have been playing some elegant and quick football, with the ball largely on the ground and to feet, so it was going to be interesting to see if this worked on a wet pitch in the rain, and if not, could Thetford adapt their style? Either way, I was excited for the game big game tonight, always a highlight this one!
Always a fan of a printed match-day programme, I picked one up on the way in, a classic Barnes Print one for a £1.
In the driving rain, both teams came out in their home kits, Walsham-le-Willows in red and yellow, and Thetford Town in claret and blue, and in the wet it has to be said that there was a bit of a kit clash going on. It had also not gone unnoticed by the Thetford fans that player-manager Matt Morton was sporting a new cropped haircut, it must help with all the big headed clearances that he is well-known for.
KEY MOMENTS
WLW = Walsham-le-Willows
TT = Thetford Town
6' - WLW - A relaxed back-pass from Gilchrist is intercepted by Jamie Smith, he cuts through on goal, 1-on-1 with keeper Tom Smith, but Smith is out quickly and gets down well to make an important stop with his leg.
13' - TT - Diggens cuts across the edge of the box and plays in King coming in off the right wing, he bursts into the box and hits a low powerful shot at the near-post which keeper Stobbart pushes out for a corner.
15' - TT - GOAL (0-1) - Gilchrist plays a lovely 1-2 with King to put him through on goal, where he calmly slots the ball into the goal beyond the reach of the keeper to give Thetford the early lead.
32' - TT - Diggens charges down the right wing and plays in a cross towards the far-post, where Gilchrist hits an accurate volley which forces an impressive save from Stobbart as he pushes it onto the crossbar and out.
37' - TT - A brilliant cross from Laker is headed goal-bound by Diggens, but Stobbart makes another fantastic save to turn the ball onto the crossbar and out yet again. Walsham were clinging on, with the fine saves from Stobbart keeping them in the game.
39' - TT - From close to the corner flag, King goes on a mazy run into the box and powers in a low shot at the near-post, turned out for a corner by the leg of Stobbart.
47' - TT - A big kick up field from Tom Smith is allowed to bounce, and anticipating the bounce Gilchrist is first to react, flashing a well hit strike towards to goal, marginally wide of the far post.
71' - TT - A 25 yard free-kick is well struck by Lake, leaving Stobbart for dead it looks to be dipping in, but collides with the crossbar and rebounds out to start a Walsham counter-attack which ends with a shot being deflected wide for a corner at the other end.
73' - TT - GOAL (0-2) - King makes a run forwards, and spotting the run of Gilchrist to his left he feeds him into the box where Gilchrist, with his first touch, hits an absolute pearler of a strike across the keeper and into the top right-hand corner of the goal - a wonderful finish to put Thetford deservedly 2-up.
81' - TT - A short corner is taken, and after some neat passing in the left corner, Gilchrist threads King through whose shot looked to either be heading in, and if not, Diggens was present to tap-in, but an important block is made to deny Thetford the goal.
84' - WLW - A speculative long range strike looked to be flying over and out, but to Tom Smith's surprise it loops more than expected and hits the cross-bar, with player-manager Matt Morton on duty to clear-up.
85' - TT - GOAL (0-3) - With Walsham pressing high, King picks up the ball deep in Thetford territory, and with acres of space he charges forwards and feeds Diggens down the right, he takes a touch to take the ball beyond the reach of the tracking defender, and from a difficult angle he hits a beautiful lofted strike across the face of the goal which flies straight into the inside of the side-netting signified with a cloud of water droplets, leaving the keeper no chance, and emphatically sealing the 3-points for Thetford.
Despite the treacherous conditions, where it rained almost solidly throughout the game, Thetford were still able to play their exciting free-flowing brand of football, scoring 3 very well taken goals, and getting a long overdue win against local rivals Walsham-le-Willows, and even more impressively securing a second clean sheet in the row. Thetford dominated the game, and other than the early chance, Walsham never really troubled the Thetford goal and the points rightfully went back to Breckland. All the players earned their keep today, and in difficult conditions they worked hard, pressed well and attacked with guile and precision, with that man Cameron King driving the team forwards with a phenomenal performance. When the game was getting a bit tense, supreme finishes from Gilchrist and Diggens put the game to bed, allowing them to close out the game in comfort. With that win, Thetford jump over Harleston Town to go top of the table, maintaining their impressive start to the season. As Matt Morton said in his recent interview with Simon Staines and Leigh Simons, it is still very early days to be looking at the table, but the main thing is that the performances keep coming from all the players in the team, and they passed a stern test tonight in treacherous conditions against what is a solid and difficult side. The players now have 8 days to warm-up and recover before the next game, a home tie against Kirkley & Pakefield where I should be at, and I hope that the injury which caused Clarke to hobble off is nothing serious, so until then, UP THE TOWN!!!
Line-Ups:
WALSHAM-LE-WILLOWS: Dan Stobbart, Henry Harvey, Jordan Asker, Harry McKeown, Karl Saffrey (C), Michael Meadows-Smith, Kyran Cooper, Ryan Clarke, Jamie Smith, Rory Porter, Ollie McKensie-Vince. SUBS: Sam Last, Joe Greenslade-Cross, Jude Keylock, Ewan Hailstone, Malin Davis.
THETFORD TOWN: Tom Smith, Andrew Cusack, Matt Morton, Nathan Clarke, Adam Laker, Jordan Lake, Elliot Smith (C), Cameron King, Emmanuel Machaya, Dan Gilchrist, George Diggens. SUBS: Jake Mann, Artur Visocanskis, Macauley Rodgers, Santi Davies, Connor Balment.
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