Thurlow Nunn Premier: Thetford Town 1-2 Great Yarmouth Town

24th February 2026

Thetford Town vs Great Yarmouth Town @ The Lomax Spiral Systems Stadium - Thetford

Thurlow Nunn Premier Division (Step 5)

19:45 KO

£8 entry

Attendance - 225

Half-time score: Thetford Town 1-0 Great Yarmouth Town

Goals:

Thetford Town: King - 39'(P)

Great Yarmouth Town: Perry - 73'

Great Yarmouth Town: Halliday - 79'

Final Score: Thetford Town 1-2 Great Yarmouth Town

Following Thetford Town's run of away games, which included some big victories at Fakenham Town and Soham Town Rangers, The Brecklanders were finally back home to face fellow play-off contenders Great Yarmouth Town. Today's visitors were promoted to the Thurlow Nunn Premier for the 24/25 season, and in the previous 3 games Thetford Town have been unable to defeat them. The Bloaters are a formidable side, driving the deepest into the FA Vase of all TNL Premier sides this season narrowly losing to the bookies favourites Haywards Heath Town (who actually lost their subsequent game to AFC Stoneham!), so Thetford Town were in for a stern test, but were confident following their recent run of victories.

Today's printed matchday programme had Thetford Town's pacey right full-back Dylann Grove on the front cover, having another strong season in the claret & blue. This programme was intended for the cancelled 7th February game, hence some of the information being out-of-date.

After a sodden and miserable start to 2026, the mercury had shot up to the mid-teens for early spring conditions, which was a much welcome respite from the incessant rain! The pitch still needed some work, but looked lush and green, which for late-February is great to see. Before long the teams were lining up, Thetford Town in claret and blue with the Great Yarmouth Town in their first choice amber and black strips. Adding to the atmosphere, the TTFC Ultras were behind the Yarmouth goal, with The Amber Wave behind the Thetford goal, both supporter groups adding some great atmosphere to this big game, great to see!

KEY MOMENTS

TT = Thetford Town

GYT = Great Yarmouth Town

21' - TT - Haylett with a neat long range diagonal ball to Laker, he controls the ball really well and whips it into the far-post, Diggens is there and jumps to nod the ball in, but the scrambling Ling is just about able to beat him to the ball to prevent the effort.

24' - TT - Wells with another of his marauding runs forwards through the middle, he plays a neat 1-2 with Laker and darts inside the box, a challenge comes in and makes him stumble, he initially stays on his feet but cannot regain his balance and goes down, possible penalty?

27' - GYT - A Yarmouth corner ball is swung in by captain Ingram, it is heading directly in at the far-post, but Ruddy gets up high to tip it over for another corner.

31' - TT - Harvey Lott wins a battle for the ball down the right flank and blitzes forwards, he crosses the ball into the box, it is cleared but only as far as King on the edge of the box, seeing Buttle coming in from the left he shuffles the ball out to him and he drills in a powerful effort at the near-post, but Ling is equal to it to turn it round the post for a corner. The first corner comes to nothing but the second results in a close range header that is directly straight at Ling.

37' - TT - King with a skilful run forwards is taken out on the left-hand edge of the box. He steps up to take the resultant free-kick and strikes it well, his effort arcing towards the top right corner, but Ling gets across well to make a fine diving save, so close!

39' - TT - PENALTY & GOAL (1-0) - The resulting corner is taken short, a shot comes in that is blocked by a Yarmouth arm and the referee points to the spot. A lot of protests from Yarmouth claiming the ball flicked up into his hand, but nevertheless the penalty stands. King steps up and expertly powers the ball into the bottom left corner, which was placed too well for Ling to reach despite diving the correct way, and with that the hosts take the lead.

44' - TT - Buttle with a probing run down the left, he powers in a low ball across the box, Diggens is arriving at the far-post and slides in, but just fails to connect with the ball for a sure fire 2nd goal, fine margins!

66' - TT - Thetford counter, a long ball up to Diggens, on the bounce he chips the ball over Wilson-Townes, he runs onto it and looks to be away, but Wilson-Townes grapples Diggens to the ground to snuff out the attack, to take the yellow in the process. Lucky that this was close to the half-way line, closer to goal and it would have been worse for him.

73' - GYT - GOAL (1-1) - A sloppy foul conceded by Thetford in the middle of their half. Captain Ingram step up and curls the ball to the near-post, Perry is unmarked and heads the ball towards goal, it is close to Ruddy but seems to bounce up and is deflected into the net by the keeper, an unfortunate goal to concede puts the visitors right back in despite only creating a few decent chances.

79' - GYT - GOAL (1-2) - Disaster for Thetford, they are exposed down the left-flank, the ball is squared into Halliday lurking in the centre of the area, he drills in a strike that takes a big deflection off a Thetford leg and spins into the goal, wrong-footing keeper Ruddy. A tad fortunate for the visitors but he took the shot and deflections and rebounds can often lead to goals at this level. Not long for Thetford to get back into this one.

86' - GYT - With Thetford pushing high for the equaliser, Yarmouth are able to exploit the space, the best chance coming from goalscorer Halliday, a 25yrd effort dropping into the bottom left corner, forcing Ruddy to make a diving save.

95' - TT - On the death Thetford get a golden opportunity to equalise. Neat diagonal ball from substitute Olpin to the far-post it is headed across the danger area and fellow substitute Billy Batch is in, but his effort is straight at Ling who makes the save and the chance goes begging. Shortly after, the final whistle is blown.

Despite a strong performance from Thetford Town, they were unable to capitalise on their chances, and a poor 10 minutes in the second half saw them concede two sloppy goals, undoing all their excellent work, and still unable to beat Great Yarmouth Town since their recent promotion with 3 defeats and one goalless draw. Not bagging the 2nd goal when on-top was key, but Great Yarmouth Town always looked dangerous on the break and took their opportunities to shoot when they arose, and battled hard to seal an important win, seeing them rise into the play-off places. The result is certainly a set-back for Thetford Town's play-off hopes with a pack of teams with games in-hand closing in on them. However, there are a few games coming up that are on paper winnable, so they will need to maximise the points to stay in the play-off mix, but they will have to be at their best to secure these points as I'm sure Cornard United, Lakenheath, Stowmarket Town (x2) and a tough one at local rivals Walsham-le-Willows who will all be desperate for the scalp. A big few weeks coming up for the boys in claret and blue, hopefully they can keep up the recent high performance levels, UP THE TOWN!!!

Line-Ups:

THETFORD TOWN: Jack Ruddy, Adam Laker, Josh Wells, Ryan Haylett, Dylan Grove, Jeorgy Batch, Elliot Smith (C), Cameron King, George Diggens, Jordan Buttle, Harvey Lott. SUBS: Billy Batch, Sam Bond, Callum Olpin, Jake Mann, Theo Piggott.

GREAT YARMOUTH TOWN: Brandon Ling, Reegan Perry, Leo Spooner, Riley Wilson-Townes, Billy Wenn, Sam Adams, Tyler Halliday, Kyle Ingram (C), Jake Spooner, Ryan Jacobs, Cameron Barnes. SUBS: Charlie Abbs, Callum Kemp, Brad Dagniho, Kiam Clarke.