Thurlow Nunn Premier: Thetford Town 1-1 Fakenham Town

27th September 2025

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

Thurlow Nunn Premier Division (Step 5)

15:00 KO

£8 entry

Attendance - 255

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

Goals:

Fakenham Town: Watts - 40'

Thetford Town: Ebanks-Blake - 99'

Final Score: Thetford Town 1-1 Fakenham Town

This afternoon saw the first of a triple-header against Fakenham Town over the next few weeks, with this one being a league game, then a Tuesday night game on the 7th away at Fakenham in the Norfolk Senior Cup then back to the Lomax Spiral Systems Stadium on the 18th for the huge FA Vase game. With Fakenham Town one of the stand-out teams in the division, and with October also including games away at Haverhill Rovers and hosting both Walsham-le-Willows and table toppers Soham Town Rangers, it was going to be an incredibly tough month coming up. With Thetford Town coming into this game off the back of a 5-1 loss away at Dereham Town, and with this being a league game, it was hugely important for Thetford Town to play like we know they can and get a result, and with the crowd behind them it was certainly a possibility, a big response was needed from the team.

Today's printed match-day programme had tenacious midfielder and club stalwart Jake Mann on the front-cover.

It was a dry afternoon, a bit overcast and grey for most of the game with sun breaking through by the end of the game. It was a good crowd, and before long the teams were lined-up in front of the fans, Thetford Town in claret & blue with Fakenham Town in their home yellow and black kits, for the first game of this exciting triple-header!

KEY MOMENTS

TT = Thetford Town

FH = Fakenham Town

8' - TT - Grove dinks a deft ball over the top for Diggens to run onto, seeing Pearson steaming off his line he chips the ball over him, it looks good at first but drops just wide of the far-post, close!

23' - TT - A classic through-ball from King to Diggens on the right side of the pitch, he drives in and powers in a strike at the near-post, but the stinging effort is saved.

27' - TT - Reynolds whips the ball in from a deep position on the right, he finds Harvey Lott sprinting in off the left-flank, he hits the ball first time but the effort is over, unlucky.

40' - FH - GOAL (0-1) - Fakenham have a corner, opposite side to the linesman in this half, Joe Keeley steps up to take it, and much like a corner taken 5 minutes prior he places the ball a clear yard outside the line, enough of a gap to ride a motorbike through, and like the one earlier no officials spotted it.......In typical fashion, the ball is whipped into the near-post and the Fakenham Town captain and goal-scorer maestro Jake Watts heads in from close range. A great finish, but a goal that should not have stood, to say that I was fuming would be an understatement.

53' - TT - Grove with a ball drilled across the box from the right, it is blocked and spins out to Buttle on the edge of the box, he hits a left-footed daisy cutter of the strike and it rolls narrowly wide, but with a deflection on the way through a corner is awarded.

59' - FH - Thetford lose the ball in a deep position to Henman, he shimmies through and cracks in a well-struck effort from 20yrds, it is heading into the top-left corner but Sutton is across and makes a fine fingertip save. From the resulting corner, Wright cannot direct his glancing header in, the ball flying just past the far-post!

61' - FH - A quick counter-attack from Fakenham and they should be 2-0 up. Watts and Robinson have a 2-on-1, Watts centres the ball to Robinson and on the edge of the box he shoots, but Sutton was out fast, he made himself big, and was able to make contact to push the pull wide for a corner, a save of the highest order!

69' - TT - Harvey Lott receives the ball in a central position on the edge of the box, he flicks the ball up and steps back to tee-up Laker for the volley, it is hit crisply but just over the bar, almost a phenomenal goal from the hosts!

77' - TT - Harvey Lott darts into the box from the edge of the area, he keeps going showing great skill to evade the incoming challenges to make it in-front of goal, he powers in an effort from close range, but keeper Pearson makes the stop to prevent the equaliser.

93' - FH - As Thetford push high this allows space for Fakenham to counter and they do just that through Watts showing great strength to break the challenges, he finds substitute McIntyre on the left side of the box, he cuts the ball back to evade the challenge then shoots, pulling his effort wide, much to the relief of the home fans.

99' - TT - GOAL (1-1) - A ball is whipped into the box by Olpin, it doesn't go as deep as expected but keeper Pearson was committed and it looks like he catches the ball right on the edge of the box, but momentum carries him clearly over the line and a free-kick is awarded, with Pearson receiving a yellow. Before the free-kick Fakenham try to waste time by bringing on a sub, and this allows Thetford to follow suit, bringing on Josh Wells. Wells steps up and absolutely leathers the ball, a low effort squirming under the wall and deflecting out to the left-side of goal where fellow substitute Ebanks-Blake is on hand and he lashes the ball into the net, a pinpoint effort to find the small gap between the post and scrambling keeper, a brilliant finish to restore justice, as this was not a game Thetford deserved to lose. From the restart the final whistle is blown so Thetford's equaliser was literally at the death, what a finale!

A much improved performance from Thetford Town this week, a great reaction to the result last week, and they will be left thinking they could have won this game, with Fakenham's opening goal an absolute farce. Thetford managed to ride their luck at times in the 2nd half, but kept plugging away and got their rewards in the last moment of the game as two substitutes linked up to equalise, with a draw a fair result I would say. This game sets up the next two games of the triple-header nicely, I just hope the match officials in the next two games are wise to their corner tactic, in what is just plain and simply cheating. I was impressed with how Thetford stood up to one of the fancied teams in the league, with the two captains Sam Bond and Jake Watts battling each other all game, with Bondy having the upper-hand in open-play, Watts never even got a sniff of goal excluding set-pieces, where he seems to thrive. I was impressed with Fakenham right-back Malenguka, bags of pace and skill, but he went off injured near the end of the 2nd half, hopefully nothing serious. Looking back at Thetford Town, special mention to Harry Sutton who made two outstanding saves in the 2nd half to keep the hosts in the game, and all the players kept plugging away until the death, with the substitutes coming good for Town. It was a strong bench this afternoon and made a huge difference. Eyes are off Fakenham Town for a week as the team head down to the Suffolk-Essex-Cambridgeshire border to face the newly promoted Haverhill Rovers who have just lost star-striker Shaun Avis to Harwich & Parkeston. Will still be a tough game of course, never an easy place to go, but if we play like we know we can hopefully we can travel back with a haul of points in the bag, UP THE TOWN!!!

Line-Ups:

THETFORD TOWN: Harry Sutton, Dylan Grove, Jaydyn Lott, Sam Bond (C), Adam Laker, Jeorgy Batch, Marley Reynolds, Cameron King, Jordan Buttle, Harvey Lott, George Diggens. SUBS: Josh Wells, Antwan Ebanks-Blake, Callum Olpin, Jake Mann, Matt Morton.

FAKENHAM TOWN: Luke Pearson, Tanatswa Malenguka, Dylan Coslett, Lewis Sturman, Fin Page, Jayden Wright, Joe Keeley, Mitch Rasberry, Jake Watts (C), Jack Robinson, Joe Henman. SUBS: Ethan Flack, Charlie Mayhew, Louis Henman-Mason, Ruairidh McIntyre, Wilson Cruz.