Thurlow Nunn Premier: Harleston Town 1-1 Thetford Town
13th October 2026
Harleston Town vs Thetford Town @ Wilderness Lane - Harleston
Thurlow Nunn Premier Division (Step 5)
19:45 KO
£8 entry
Attendance - TBA
Half-time score: Harleston Town 0-0 Thetford Town
Goals:
Harleston Town: Oliver - 57'
Thetford Town: Wells - 92'
Final Score: Harleston Town 1-1 Thetford Town
With ten days of rest following their last game away at Great Yarmouth Town, Thetford Town faced a Tuesday night trip due east to face Harleston Town. With Thetford Town top of the table and Harleston Town in 16th it may have looked an easy tie, however, Harleston are artificially low having only played 7 league games this season, going deep into the FA Cup before giving Step 3 table toppers Real Bedford a solid test, only losing 2-1. These two teams have also already played in the league, a tight 2-2 draw at Mundford Road, one of only two games so far this season where Thetford have dropped points. Harleston have also had a long rest having also been knocked out of the FA Vase round in their first game, so all signs were pointing to a tough Tuesday night test for The Brecklanders.
Starting for Harleston Town was a very familiar face in Ryan Haylett, playing in a centre-back role this evening. Before long the teams were lining up on this mild evening, Harleston Town in the black and white stripes with yellow accents, and Thetford Town in their first choice claret and blue.
Game footage has been uploaded by CUFCarmy1912, check the link below:
KEY MOMENTS
HA = Harleston Town
TT = Thetford Town
6' - HA - Early chance for the hosts, Bertie Oliver on the right, he shifts side-to-side and makes enough room to strike, his effort dropping down into the bottom left corner, but Sutton gets down well to make a solid save.
10' - TT - Buttle attacks down the left, he crosses in and Harvey Lott is millimetres from connecting in the middle, close!
14' - TT - Lott with a great ball off the right flank to release Diggens with a well timed burst of pace forwards, he is one-on-one with Bilham, he looks to have him beaten but the effort flashes marginally wide, a hint of a bobble as he shot, big let off for the hosts!
25' - TT - Olpin lays the ball to Buttle who powers in from 20yrds out, his fizzing effort skimming just over the bar, unlucky! For the rest of the half, Harleston play themselves back into the game but only create half-chances and all efforts are either tame or straight at Sutton, meaning the teams went into the changing rooms 0-0 for the break.
57' - HA - GOAL (1-0) - Harleston on-top in the 2nd half and the pressure tells, a worldie of a strike from the young Bertie Oliver, another one against Thetford, sees him curl the ball into the top left corner from a tight angle down the right-flank after turning his marker, this lad has one hell of a left foot!
66' - HA - Oliver in a dangerous position down the right-flank again, he is given room to strike, it looks similar to his goal but Wells manages to get his head on it to flick it wide for a corner, brilliant work from Wells to deal with that effort.
68' - TT - Thetford getting back into the game, Grove the catalyst down the left, he sees Buttle open at the edge of the box and pulls the ball back to him, but the effort is blazed over the bar.
69' - TT - Ward picks up the ball in a central position and lets rip from 20yrds out, his well drilled effort is millimetres wide, Bilham was beaten and I was expecting the net to ripple, how close was that one!
72' - TT - Buttle takes the ball to the by-line and stabs in a effort, Bilham gets an important touch on it, the rebound nearly falls to Diggens but he is just ahead of the ball and the chance goes begging, the Harleston goal living a charmed life with a flurry of strong Thetford chances.
77' - HA - A dangerous Harleston counter-attack, Durham is slipped through by Reed but Sutton makes a magnificent stop to save his cross-goal effort, that was a huge moment!
78' - HA - Cross from the right, Oliver rises high to guide in a pacey headed effort, but it is directed just over the bar.
92' - TT - GOAL (1-1) - Thetford with 10mins of sustained pressure, bodies are pushed forwards, the attacks are not quite coming off, but eventually the ball drops kindly for Wells just inside the box and he smashes his laces through it and it zips through the crowd, beyond the diving Bilham and bursts into the onion bag, what a hit, and the travelling Thetford Town fans go wild.
That was a huge point for Thetford Town, and as the old addage goes, if you cannot win make sure you don't lose, and the lads gave it their all and were rewarded with a deserved late equaliser. Josh Wells was brilliant all game so it was brilliant to see him nail the strike, the players, coaching team and fans all massively enjoyed that one! Both teams had chances to score more than one-goal, and both had passages of play where they were on-top and on-balance a draw seems a fair result. Harleston Town are a very good side and I expect to see them rising up the table in due course. Looking at the hosts, Connor Deeks stood out for me with a very solid defensive performance, and the youngster Bertie Oliver was the main threat for Harleston, he is a real gem of a player, give him space down the right flank at your peril! Haylett also took some flack after getting Diggens booked in the first minute of the game with some amateur dramatics, but he made some trademark booming headed clearances and was tough to break through in the centre-back role, was great to see him in action again. All-in-all this was a great result for Thetford Town and thoughts now turn to another away trip on Saturday as the team travel down into Suffolk to face Cornard United, a place they were defeated last year, so hopefully Thetford can go and turn that around this weekend, UP THE TOWN!!!
Line-Ups:
HARLESTON TOWN: Ross Bilham, Brandon Pickess, Graham Hinton, David Hinton (C), Ryan Haylett, Connor Deeks, Nathan Page, Joel Wilson, Jake Reed, Josh Durham, Bertie Oliver. SUBS: Harrison Smith, Spencer Cawcutt, Kieran Manning, Josh Buttery, Connor Delaney.
THETFORD TOWN: Ollie Sutton, Kyran Cooper, Dylan Grove, Josh Wells, Sam Bond (C), Ronnie Ward, Callum Olpin, Louis Henman-Mason, Harvey Lott, George Diggens, Jordan Buttle. SUBS: Amouree Wellington, Theo Piggott, Lawrence Blythe, Dylan Kirk, Cameron King.
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