FA Vase - 1st Round: Thetford Town 1-1 Fakenham Town (Thetford Town win 5-4 on penalties)

17th October 2025

Thetford Town vs Fakenham Town @ The Lomax Spiral Systems Stadium - Thetford

FA Vase - First Round (both teams Step 5)

19:45 KO

£8 entry

Attendance - 267

Half-time score: Thetford Town 1-0 Fakenham Town

Goals:

Thetford Town: King - 45'+1'

Fakenham Town: Henman-Mason - 76'

Final Score: Thetford Town 1-1 Fakenham Town (Thetford Town win 5-4 on penalties)

The third game of the Thetford Town-Fakenham Town trilogy and arguably the biggest of the lot as these two teams locked horns in the prestigious FA Vase competition. Last season Thetford Town had a strong run in this competition getting to the 3rd Round, with their 2nd Round victory away in East London against Clapton CFC undoubtedly the highlight of last season, so I for one was hoping for another good run. In the way were Fakenham Town, and with the first game of the trilogy ending in a draw, and the second a victory for today's visitors, it was looking to be a huge task for the hosts, especially as players would be missing following a recent slew of red cards. However, with the home fans firmly behind their team, with a massive crowd of 340 recorded for their last home match, and with this game on a Friday night, it had the chance of being even higher. The scene was set at The Lomax Spiral Systems Stadium, for a huge Norfolk tie in this years FA Vase First Round and the anticipation was palpable, with the young Thetford fans bringing out a drum and a trumpet for this occasion.

This evenings programme has George Diggens back on the front cover, he was missing for today's game serving a suspension from last weeks away game at Fakenham Town, but was cheering the boys on from the crowd! Please excuse the image, my programme got crumpled in my bag.

It was a mild and dry evening and the pitch was looking immaculate, definitely one of the best playing surfaces at this level, and better than many in higher divisions. Before long both teams were lining up, with Thetford Town in their famous claret and blue, and Fakenham Town in their home yellow and black kit.

KEY MOMENTS

TT = Thetford Town

FH = Fakenham Town

10' - TT - A neat little through ball from King feeds Ebanks-Blake in from the right, he turns and snaps in a strike, but his effort is drilled just wide of the post.

18' - FH - A long diagonal ball is pumped up to captain Jake Watts on the edge of the box, a deft flick on puts Cruz in off the right, he steps beyond the last defender and is through on goal, but wildly blazes his effort wide of the far-post, big let off for the hosts.

27' - FH - A ball is crossed in from the right, Malenguka rises high in the box to get his head on the ball, the connection is good but the effort is inches wide of the post.

45'+1' - TT - GOAL (1-0) - Thetford with the breakthrough countering from a Fakenham corner, Laker sees the run of Elliot Smith down the left and puts a ball over the top to release him, Smith takes the ball forwards and squares it to the edge of the box to King sprinting in, and his first time effort is expertly guided into the bottom-left corner, almost passed in, brilliant finish from the Thetford talisman, he made that look easy when it was anything but!!

76' - FH - GOAL (1-1) - A lack of communication at the back allows Watts to ghost in behind Sutton on the edge of the box and knock the ball away from him, it rolls to Henman-Mason who seeing the frantically backpedalling Sutton neatly chips the ball over him and into the net, fine finish it has to be said, but another error costing Thetford their hard fought lead.

80' - TT - Grove shows his turn of pace to buy a yard of space down the right, he squares the ball into Mann who takes a touch and shoots towards the bottom right corner, but Pearson is down well to make an important stop.

81' - FH - A cross from Watts crashes into the bar and falls to Malenguka, but his close range effort is brilliantly stopped by Sutton to keep Thetford Town in the tie.

82' - FH - Watts chases down a long-ball to the by-line, he wins it and lashes in an effort from a tight angle forcing Sutton to parry it round the post to concede a corner.

87' - TT - Thetford break through Harvey Lott and he is cynically taken out 25yrds out just as he was bursting through and Thetford Town rightly win the free-kick, the Fakenham defender receiving a yellow card. King steps up and has a go, the effort is struck beautifully over the wall and down, but Pearson is able to get to the ball to tip it over the bar for a corner, would have been a spectacular way to win this game had it have gone in.

The game ends 1-1 at the final whistle and the game goes straight to penalties!

PENALTIES:

TT - GOAL (1-0) - King calmly into the bottom left.

FH - GOAL (1-1) - Watts sends keeper wrong way, ball into bottom left.

TT - SAVE (1-1) - Harvey Lott's effort struck well but Pearson down well to save.

FH - GOAL (1-2) - Henman-Mason bottom left again, Sutton close but not quite.

TT - GOAL (2-2) - Ebanks-Blake bottom-left yet again, Pearson close but not quite.

FH - GOAL (2-3) - Wright drills the ball into the left hand side, no chance to save.

TT - GOAL (3-3) - Mann blasts the ball into the roof of the net, masterful!

FH - SAVE (3-3) - Bonner to the left, brilliant dive from Sutton to get across and save!!

TT - GOAL (4-3) - Smith absolutely buries the ball into the bottom right.

FH - GOAL (4-4) - Sturman's effort smashes into the bar and down just over the line!

TT - GOAL (5-4) - Batch with the best one of the night, powered into the right side.

FH - SAVE (5-4) - Keeper Pearson steps up, goes bottom left, Sutton down well to push the ball onto the post and it ricochets away from the net, and with that Thetford Town are victorious and through the next round!!!

The trilogy concludes with a deserved Thetford Town win, and thus completing the 'perfect balanced' set of results, with one draw, one loss and one win, evidence that games between these two sides are always close! And this one was no exception, chances were few and far between with key final passes or opportunities snuffed out by the defenders either end of the pitch. It was a touch of class from Thetford Town that opened the scoring, King's finish something only someone of his calibre could pull off. The 2nd half was even with nothing of note for the first 30 minutes of it, until the moment of the equaliser, where an unfortunate error allowed the equaliser and put Thetford under immense pressure, and Fakenham went close to a winner a couple of times shortly afterwards. Thankfully Thetford Town were able to weather the pressure and even had chances to win the game themselves, but it went to the dreaded penalty shootout. The teams finished the prescribed 5 penalties each with the game finely poised at 4-4 and in sudden death Batch confidently dispatched his penalty putting the pressure on Fakenham keeper Pearson who was next to take a spot kick. His effort was heading into the bottom left corner but a heroic save from Sutton kept the ball out of the net and The Brecklanders marched into the next round of the FA Vase finally vanquishing this tough opponent, made even more special having achieved this with a suspension depleted squad. A memorable evening in Thetford, one the excellent fans deserved, here's to hoping for a good draw on Monday, UP THE TOWN!!!

Line-Ups:

THETFORD TOWN: Harry Sutton, Adam Laker, Dylan Grove, Sam Bond (C), Jaydyn Lott, Jeorgy Batch, Jake Mann, Cameron King, Elliot Smith, Harvey Lott, Antwan Ebanks-Blake. SUBS: Ryan Haylett, Amouree Wellington, Daniel Rayner, Jaquan Allen, Jeckson Rosa.

FAKENHAM TOWN: Luke Pearson, Mitch Rasberry, Lewis Bonner, Lewis Sturman, Dylan Coslett, Jayden Wright, Tanatswa Malenguka, Louis Henman-Mason, Jake Watts (C), Joe Henman, Wilson Cruz. SUBS: Fin Page, Martyn Nantongwe, Theo Piggott, Tom Fisher, Ewan Morahan.