Thurlow Nunn Premier: Thetford Town 1-2 Ely City

15th November 2025

Thetford Town vs Ely City @ The Lomax Spiral Systems Stadium - Thetford

Thurlow Nunn Premier Division (Step 5)

15:00 KO

£8 entry

Attendance - 278

Half-time score: Thetford Town 1-0 Ely City

Goals:

Thetford Town: King - 4'

Ely City: Brown - 53'

Ely City: Stoker - 88'

Final Score: Thetford Town 1-2 Ely City

With all the fun and drama of the cups now dealt with, all focus for The Brecklanders shifted back on the league, which is shaping up to be a tight contest with at least 14 teams fighting for the 5 available promotion/play-off places. Today, Thetford Town hosted Ely City, who were only one point behind having played the same number of games, so this was a chance to put some space between us. However, Ely City defeated Thetford Town twice last season in two fiery and controversial encounters, so things were set-up for a thrilling game at the Lomax Spiral Systems Stadium. With Storm Claudia passing through it looked like the game may be called off, but the pitch drained well and the game was on, great effort from everyone who works hard on the pitch. It was also Thetford Town's league debut for their new digital scoreboard, great to see the facilities steadily improving, certainly a ground to be proud of.

Today's programme had Thetford Town's young forward Harvey Lott on the front cover, he has cropped up with some good goals this season so far.

Before long both teams were lining up, Thetford Town in claret and blue with the proud U7 mascots, and Ely City in their away blue kits in front of another decent crowd, the growing group of young supporters attending in decent numbers and making lots of noise yet again, keep it up lads!

KEY MOMENTS

TT = Thetford Town

EC = Ely City

3' - TT - A cross from Buttle off the left finds Diggens at the far-side of the box, seeing keeper Newton off his line he attempts an audacious chip from inside the box, Newton backpedals, gets his fingertips on the ball and tips it over the bar, skimming the bar on its way out, so close!

4' - TT - GOAL (1-0) - Thetford sustain the pressure and King is found on the edge of the box, he turns the Ely defender and with space he picks his spot and curls the ball into the top left corner, fine finish from the Thetford Town favourite, and a great start for the hosts.

15' - TT - A slick passing move from Thetford through the middle then down the left flank before finding King inside the box, he cuts left and right to make space before drilling a low effort to the near post, but Newton is in position to make the stop.

16' - TT - Long-ball forwards, Ely win it but Buttle quickly steals the ball and is through 1-on-1 but the linesman waves his flag for offside, an interesting decision to say the least.

18' - TT - A short and quickly taken corner from Olpin to King, he shows blistering acceleration to cut into the box and hits a low effort full-blast at the near-post, but Newton sticks a leg out to keep the effort out, so close to the second for Thetford.

47' - TT - Fast start from Town, King down the left whips a brilliant ball into the box to find Diggens, he is 1-on-1 but hits his effort is straight at the outstretched Newton and the chance goes begging, either side of the keeper and it would have been a goal for sure.

53' - EC - GOAL (1-1) - Thetford doing typical Thetford things, a sloppy ball at the back is pounced on by Brown and he slots the ball across goal and into the net. In a game where Ely had created little up front they are gifted the equaliser, so frustrating.

66' - TT - A long ball punted forwards by Sutton, it bounces kindly and King is on the end of it, but he is manhandled to the ground before he can shoot, with the defenders arms wrapped fully around him, but nothing is given and the game plays on, baffling decision form the officials.

70' - TT - Laker advances down the left, he squares the ball across the danger area, it evades the Ely defenders and is begging to be poked in, but the Thetford attackers are a yard behind the play and the easy chance goes begging.

88' - EC - GOAL (1-2) - Wells competes with Kerr for a ball, Kerr goes down under his own momentum and it goes out for a Thetford throw-in, but the officials decide to award a free-kick despite there being no obvious foul. The ball is whipped in it, initially cleared but Ely recycle and cross in from the left, where Stoker is completely unmarked as his glancing header flies into the net from close range. So frustrating to concede from a poor decision, but Stoker should not have been unmarked in the box, and the smash and grab looked inevitable for the visitors with this late winner.

100' - TT - In the death substitute Reynolds with a dangerous ball whipped into the near-post, Ebanks-Blake rises high and gets a strong connection on the ball, but his headed effort sails just beyond the top-left corner and the referee blows for full-time immediately afterwards.

I don't understand how Thetford Town have lost that game, a draw I would understand and a Thetford win was deserved having created the better chances, but a loss is hard to fathom. Thetford were totally dominant in the first-half but failed to fully capitalise, and they had an excellent chance straight away in the second-half with the one-on-one but again they failed to hit the back of the net, before gifting Ely a farcical equaliser. Too many times this season Thetford have conceded goals from sloppy play at the back, it needs to end sharpish if Thetford want to seriously bid for the hard-fought play-off places. I also feel that Thetford were yet again at the wrong end of some poor officiating, the Buttle offside, the rugby tackle on King on the edge of the box and the free-kick that was not a free-kick that led to the goal being three pivotal moments. It has to be said that whilst Ely did not create a lot, they did defend well and pressed well in numbers to pressure the Thetford defence, ultimately leading to the first goal. Ely had two good chances, scored two goals and won all three points, again showing that if you don't take your chances this can happen. Despite the obvious disappointment, more good signs for Thetford, if they can play like did in the first half but convert more chances they should get back to winning ways, but they need to work on minimising mistakes at the back, being more clinical on goal, shooting when opportunities present and getting better at clearing crosses/set-pieces, the latter remaining an Achilles heel this season. Next up is Hadleigh United away, with the hosts struggling this is a good chance to redeem themselves, but they need to be on it to come back with all three-points, here's to hoping we can, UP THE TOWN!!!

Line-Ups:

THETFORD TOWN: Harry Sutton, Adam Laker, Ryan Haylett, Josh Wells, Sam Bond (C), Elliot Smith, Callum Olpin, Jeorgy Batch, George Diggens, Jordan Buttle, Cameron King. SUBS: Harvey Lott, Billy Batch, Jake Mann, Marley Reynolds, Antwan Ebanks-Blake.

ELY CITY: Ben Newton, Alex Kerr, Sam Townshend, Rob Ruddy, Jacob Partridge (C), Joe Brannan, Charlie Sutcliffe, Alex Brown, Jack Friend, Tom Stoker, Harry Biggs. SUBS: Tom Rigby, Harley Murkin, Tomas Allan, Aaron Hamer.