FA Cup - Extra Preliminary Round: Histon 2-2 Thetford Town

2nd August 2025

Histon vs Thetford Town @ Bridge Road - Impington, nr. Histon

FA Cup 25/26: Extra Preliminary Round (both teams Step 5)

15:00 KO

£10 entry

Attendance - 231

Half-time score: Histon 1-1 Thetford Town

Goals:

Thetford Town: Wells - 9'

Histon: Greenslade-Cross - 45'+1'

Histon: Barnes - 58'

Thetford Town: Olpin - 79'

Final Score: Histon 2-2 Thetford Town

This afternoon the worlds oldest domestic cup competition kicked off again, and despite the big clubs seemingly sacrificing cup replays in favour extra off-season games, for the rest of the English football pyramid this remains one of the highlights of the footballing calendar, with replays very much still a thing until the later rounds. Thetford Town being in Step 5 enter at the competitions earliest point, the Extra Preliminary Round, where they faced an away trip to fellow Step 5 Histon who play in a parallel league, the United Counties Premier South. This is a division that covers a large spread of middle England such as Northamptonshire, Leicestershire, a large part of Cambridgeshire and a few teams on the extremities of the West Midlands, Buckinghamshire and even as far as Oxfordshire in Easington Sports. Our opponents were in the Eastern Counties league with Thetford Town a few seasons ago where they romped to the title in the 18/19 season, with two close victories over Thetford, a 1-0 at home as well as 2-1 win at Mundford Road, where club captain Sam Bond scored Thetford's goal!

For Thetford Town, this game represented another huge test, in what on paper looked a very tough start to the season, but some outstanding performances have seen them take all the points on offer so far. To get into the next round, Thetford Town would need to bring their A-game again, but with a decent Thetford following anticipated they would have decent support to spur them on.

Upon getting to the ground, I picked up a match-day programme for £2, a nice full colour glossy programme.

Histon have an impressive facility, it is clear that they have played much further up the pyramid, and the pitch was also in a good condition which I love to see. Even better, the sun came out for the game, with the temperature in the low 20's it was perfect footballing weather. Before long the teams were out, Histon in red and black stripes, with Thetford Town in mint green tops with claret shorts and socks.

KEY MOMENTS

HI = Histon

TT = Thetford Town

9' - TT - GOAL (0-1) - Wells wins the ball in the middle of the park, seeing the space he strides forwards and begins a mazey run forwards, rounding one player and riding a challenge before hitting a screamer into the top right corner from the edge of the box, unbelievable goal!

17' - TT - Buttle down the left wing, he cuts into the box and loses balance just as he goes to strike, but he still manages to get the effort off, it deflects and is looping in, but keeper West makes a brilliant save, pushing the ball onto the post and out, so nearly 2 for Town!

19' - HI - A Histon corner is swung into the far-post, the ball drops and there is a goalmouth scramble, but Thetford are just about able to clear.

23' - HI - Black puts a brilliant ball into the box from a deep left position, Stevens-Lee is on the end of it but Sutton is in position to make the close-range stop.

31' - TT - Laker on the left, he cuts inside and drills in a strike from the edge of the box, it is struck cleanly but West is able to make the stop.

44' - TT - A long ball is pumped forwards, substitute Palmer controls it well and bursts forward, he keeps the two defenders at bay, gets to the edge of the box and shoots, West dives low, the ball almost squirrels underneath him, but he is just about able to hold on it.

45'+1' - HI - GOAL (1-1) - Histon get an equaliser just before the break, corner swung in by Greenslade-Cross and it goes directly in the far-side of the goal, great delivery it has to be said.

53' - HI - Greenslade-Cross beats the offside trap and is in, he bolts forwards but his strike is tame and Sutton is able to make a more comfortable save than he expected.

55' - HI - Setchell tries to emulate Wells' opening goal, he runs through the middle and lets rip from 20yrds out, the effort is sweetly struck and arcing into the the right-hand side of the goal, but Sutton leaps like a salmon to turn the ball around the goal for a corner.

58' - HI - GOAL (1-2) - The Histon pressure tells and they turn the game around. The move begins from a suspect throw-in, looked a Thetford ball but it is awarded to Histon. Anyhow they put the ball into the box, and it is recycled on the opposite side before being squared in, the ball is stopped dead by one player and striker Barnes, having been teed up, sweeps the ball into the goal, good finish and the hosts take the lead.

64' - TT - A loose pass at the back is intercepted by Palmer, with acres of space he takes a couple of touches forwards to just outside the box before putting his laces through the ball, it is heading into the left-hand side of the goal, but West makes a phenomenal diving save to palm it out.

66' - HI - Thetford are unable to cleanly clear the ball and it drops to Binder in the perfect position, but thankfully he pulls his shot wide, big let off for Thetford.

79' - TT - GOAL (2-2) - Thetford push hard for the equaliser and are on the attack, captain Callum Olpin takes the initiative and from the edge of the box drops his shoulder steps to the side before firing in a thunderbolt of a strike, it flashes across West and into the bottom left corner, wonderful goal from the captain leading from the front!

82' - TT - Thetford are now in the ascendancy, Buttle attacks down the left-flank, he cuts inside and shoots at the near-post and the powerful effort whistles over the bar.

92' - TT - In stoppage time Buttle attacks the wings again, this time down the right, he cuts inside and looks to have been dispossessed but somehow he wins the ball back, rides another challenge before attempting an audacious chipped effort from a narrow angle, West is beaten but the ball bounces onto the bar and back out before the ball is cleared, so close to a decisive late winner for The Brecklanders.

An absolutely brilliant cup tie served up in Histon, some end-to-end play, chances galore and some great banter between the fans, all-in-all a great day out, and one of those games where the score could have easily been double what it was! A multitude of absences saw Thetford field a weakened squad, especially apparent on the bench with only three substitutes available, one being manager Matt Morton. Looking at Histon's full bench of 7 players, the consensus was that we could struggle in the latter quarter of the game as the fresh legs came on. Thankfully, despite this Thetford applied themselves superbly, with a strong first half deserving of a two goal lead, but a fantastic corner in the dying moments saw the teams go in level. Histon dominated the first 25 minutes of the 2nd half, taking the lead and creating a plethora of chances to stretch the lead, before Thetford equalised and looked the most likely to score a winner, with Buttle hitting the bar in stoppage time. Histon were a strong side and had some good attacking talent, Greenslade-Cross and substitute Abood impressing me the most. The draw sees Thetford Town host Histon this coming Tuesday evening in the replay, expect another tightly contested game. Back to Thetford Town, every player gave absolutely everything, it was a monumental effort against a larger match-day squad. The backline of Lott and Wells with Sutton behind them is looking solid and the midfield four of Reynolds, Delgado, Batch and captain Callum Olpin competed well in the middle and the attacking players were a constant threat all game, hitting Histon with pace. It was concerning seeing Laker come off injured, he is a key player for us so hopefully it is nothing too serious. His replacement Palmer had a strong game, with two great chances, both forcing West to make good saves. After than exhilarating game I can't wait for Tuesday night, hopefully more of the same, but with Thetford Town edging it to get into the next round of course, UP THE TOWN!!!

Line-Ups:

HISTON: Jake West, Jake Kerins, Charlie Black, Tom Binder, Max York (C), Luke Crisp, Joe Greenslade-Cross, Danny Setchell, Connor Barnes, Alex Stevens-Lee, Mar-Lee Fisher. SUBS: Karl Saffery, George Whitehall, Cassius Abood, Jake Holman, Dawid Siek, Adden Tokley, Guy Motley.

THETFORD TOWN: Harry Sutton, Josh Wells, Jaydyn Lott, Adam Laker, Marley Reynolds, Marley Delgado, Jeorgy Batch, Callum Olpin (C), Jordan Buttle, Harvey Lott, George Diggens. SUBS: Chris Palmer, Jeckson Rosa, Matt Morton.