Thetford Town 0 Saffron Walden 1
13th February 2016
Att: 62
Walden have worked very hard to get away from the relegation zone, and a win today would help cement there place in the Premier league.
Thetford however were struggling and needed the points. That had just beaten
Newmarket 5-3, so confidence would have been high.
I picked Martin and Master Johnson up on the way to
Thetford. We spoke about the club throughout the journey, and how pleased we
were with the way we have kicked off 2016. The Bloods have got 11 points from
their last 5 matches and have found form, home and away. It’s a great time to
be a Bloods fan.
We arrived at the club just after 2pm. The Sat Nav tried to
take us to an industrial estate, but we ignored it and looked for the flood
lights. We were not the only fans who struggled to find it using the postcode
from Google.
The team had a few regulars missing including the Abbot
Brothers. Pabbo (Paul Abbot) was getting married, so I would like to
congratulate Paul and his wife Sarah. I hope you had a great day Mr and Mrs
Pabbo.
We were also missing Rhino and Viking (Fleming and Grindrod),
so Sticko and Andrews formed an experienced partnership at the back.
Sticko also gave new signing Lee Pacey his debut in goal,
and gave Jack Young a place on the bench.
The Team
TEAM; Lee Pacey,
Spike Bell, Jamie Solkhon (Rocky), Jake Noble (Nobby), Neil Andrews, Stuart
Wardley (Sticko), Craig Calver (Wig), Joe Murphy (Boss), Graeme Turner (G Man),
James Thomas (Zinedine), Louis Harper. Substitutes (not used); Charlie Dicker,
Jake Thompson, Jack Young.
The First Half
Walden started the match instantly trying to pin Thetford
back. Bell fed G Man a great through ball as he was charging up the wing. G Man
tried to get a cross in, but it was well defended for a Walden throw on.
Unfortunately the throw was wasted and no chance was created.
Standley got booked after he went down in the Walden box. I
am not sure why he was booked to be honest. If anyone can let me know I would
appreciate it.
Thetford had a good opportunity when Hunsdon passed the ball
to Foster. Foster gave himself a few yards of space with a lovely touch, but
his long range effort went sailing over the bar.
G Man had the first shot on goal, after he ran onto a lovely
flick from Wig. We thought G Man was going to blast it first time with his left
foot, but he decided to control the ball and shoot. The defenders block took
the power out of the shot, and was then collected by Barker.
11 minutes into the match, and Pacey was called into action.
Priddle had a great opportunity to open the scoring, but Pacey came off his
line quickly and saved the shot at the feet of Priddle. This gave Thetford
confidence to push on, but Pacey made another few good saves to deny an opening
goal for the home side.
17 minutes into the match, and Harper sent Zindine on a run
with a lovely ball. Zinedine did very well to stay on his feet as the Thetford
defence surrounded him. He managed to get a shot in, but it went wide of the
post. We laughed as the ball would have hit me in the face, had it not been for
the pole in front of me which pins back the net.
Thetford delivered a nice cross into the Bloods box, but
Rocky managed to get back, and scoop the ball away for a corner. Cusack took
the corner, but the referee blew for a foul in the box and awarded a free kick
for Pacey to take.
G Man was looking more and more dangerous as he frustrated
Thetford’s left back. He beat his man in the box, and went for a low cross, but
the defender slid in and deflected the ball for a Bloods corner. Harper’s
corner was headed out of the area, but only as far as Bell, Bell tried to float
the ball into Rocky’s run at the back post, but Barker got to the ball first.
22 minutes into the match, and Priddle tried to test Pacey
from long range, but his effort went wide.
G Man and Bell continued to dominate the right hand side of
the pitch, by linking up very well. G
Man won another corner for the Bloods. Harper’s corner went over the defence,
and found Wig. Wig used his quick feet and crossed the ball back into the 6
yard box, but it was cleared for another Walden corner. Harper must have worked
up a sweat by running for one corner to the other. You could tell that Thetford
were getting concerned, as Barker was demanding his players to listen to his
instructions. This time the referee called for a foul on the Thetford player,
and the danger was momentarily over.
27 minutes into the match, and Wig won a free kick outside
the box. Harper decided to be sneaky and play it short to Wig. Wig managed to
turn the defender, but his cross was blocked for another Bloods corner. The
corner was header clear for another corner. Poor old Harper was running back
and forth to keep the momentum going. The corner was cleared, which sent
Hunsdon on a break. His pass found Foster well; who tried to skin the Boss, but
Boss made his presence known by mopping up the trouble.
Wig was giving the defence a hard time. They did very well
to close Wig down by stopping him from making a pass. He managed to get the
ball to Harper. Harper then set Zinedine but his shot was fizzled out by the
defence. Thetford tried to make a break but the player was tripped by Nobby.
Nobby was yellow carded for the foul. The free kick was taken, but the Bloods
wall did its job and G Man headed the ball clear…..he must have felt that.
37 minutes in to the match/blog, and I am announcing a Rant Alert! Bell timed a brilliant ball
which met Wigs run perfectly, but the linesman called it for off side. It was
clearly on side. The frustrating thing was that the lino didn’t make a decision
until he was influenced by the call from the Thetford defence. I know everyone
does it, but the lino clearly didn’t know what to do. I watched MOTD2 on Sunday
night and Mark Chapman was talking about how official’s decisions, can be made
on a player’s reaction. How ironic!
Wig showed some fantastic skill on in the box, and took the
ball around 3 players with a cheeky spin. He crossed the ball low and hard but
Bond blocked the ball well. The ball fell to Priddle; who tried to make a break,
but his effort went wide.
With 5 minutes to go before the half time break, Rocky was
booked for a late tackle. Thetford were awarded a free kick, which Bailey took.
The Walden defence cleared the ball for a Thetford corner. The corner did not
trouble Pacey and his experienced defence.
HT: Thetford 0 – Saffron Walden 0
The Second Half
Walden started the 2nd half with confidence, and
looked confident with each pass. The long ball was used a lot in the first
half, so the tactics had changed.
Bell used his strength and battled well with Cusack. Bell
found G Man in space; who went for a cross but it was well blocked by Cusack
for a Bloods corner. Harper’s delivery was excellent and Rocky hit the bar with
an attempted floating header. Thetford scrambled to clear the ball out of the
box.
49 minutes into the match, and Walden were awarded a penalty
after Foster’s hand prevented a goal scoring opportunity. The Boss took the penalty, but Barker guessed
the right way and made a good save. Zinedine latched onto the rebound, which
forced an even better save from Barker. G Man tried to steer a high ball into
the net but his effort went over the bar.
54 minutes into the match, and Thetford tried to get into
the Bloods box, but Andrews stood up well and cleared the ball.
56 minutes into the match, and Zinedine was growing in
confidence and started to run more at the defence, but the Thetford defence
closed him down well. They were not defending like a team who were near the
bottom of the table.
The Boss was not shaken after his miss and brought the ball
out of the Walden box. He timed his pass perfect for Wig, but Wig was penalised
for a block on the Thetford’s right back.
Bells perseverance and work rate was inspiring, as he
charged at the Thetford defence and won the ball back. He crossed the ball to
Wig who tried to weave his way through, but his shot was straight at Barker.
69 minutes into the match, and Foster had a great chance at
taking the lead, but his strike was straight at Pacey.
71 minutes into the match, and G Man put ball through Barker’s
legs and into the back of the net. This was down t some brilliant footwork from
Zinedine. Zinedine was fouled but, managed to slip the ball to G Man who calmly
struck the ball to make in 1-0 to Walden.
Immediately after the goal, Rocky was heading back to his
own half and had an attack of Tourette’s at a Thetford player, and was sent off
by the referee, after he consulted his linesman. That was a crazy sending off.
This happened every few minutes on the pitch, but there we go. You could tell
the referee was being assessed. Pearson took the free kick but it was straight at
Pacey. Walden had to change formation and Zinedine covered the left back
position.
The lads didn’t show any panic from being down to 10 men. We
continued to push for a second to try and kill the game off. Wig travelled with
the ball into the box, and tried to curl the ball into Barker’s top left
corner, but it was too high and didn’t force a save.
In the 80th minute Sticko fell awkwardly making a
clearance, and Thetford substitute, Barzey reacted badly to the incident, and
went to have a pop at Sticko on the ground, causing a ‘handbags at dawn’ moment,
which took 5 minutes for the card happy ref to resolve. Barzey was shown a red
card, reducing both teams to ten players, and the Boss a yellow card. The Boss and Andrews seemed to be defending
the old boy! I didn’t get it and couldn’t understand what was going on. Barzey
was furious and needed a team mate to usher him off the field. He was a big
lad, so I am glad I didn’t have that job!
Theford pushed for an equaliser with a great opportunity
from a break, but G Mam got back, slid in and blocked the cross, which awarded
Thetford a corner. The corner was played short and then pinged into the box,
but G Man headed the ball away.
The mighty Bloods held on until the final whistle to bring
back all 3 points. It was a great battle and I really enjoyed it. The lads dug
in and played like a team.
The MOTM goes to G Man (Graeme Turner). He is starting to
stake his name as a regular hit man in the league, and will get other teams
talking and hopefully worrying. Well done G Man for giving it 100% throughout
the match.
Our next match is at Home against Goleston. Last time we
met, we lost 3-0 so a win would be a great result. This will be followed by a
trip to F.C. Clacton next Tuesday week.
The ressies travel to Hadleigh on the back of a well-earned
draw against Melford.
Thank you for reading.
#upthebloods
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