Thurlow Nunn Premier: Thetford Town 2-2 Harleston Town

25th August 2026

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

Thurlow Nunn Premier Division (Step 5)

19:45 KO

£9 entry

Attendance - 280

Half-time score: Thetford Town 1-2 Harleston Town

Goals:

Thetford Town: Diggens - 3'

Harleston Town: Reed - 20'

Harleston Town: Oliver - 45'+5'

Thetford Town: Diggens - 83'

Final Score: Thetford Town 2-2 Harleston Town

This evening saw Thetford Town entertain Harleston Town, in what is the first home game of the league campaign. Thetford Town have gotten off to a strong start, with 2 away wins and 2 clean sheets in their opening 2 games. Harleston Town done a lot of business and had high hopes for this season, but with 3 points in 3 games it was a slower start than they would have been hoping for, the win coming against a struggling Heacham side, although big wins in the FA Cup and FA Vase show that they are a very good side. As part of the rebuild, Thetford Town fan favourite Ryan Haylett made the move across to Harleston Town, I was looking forward to his return tonight.

On Saturday some tragic news hit Thetford and the wider football community as Thetford's own Quevin Castro sadly passed away during a friendly game in Portugal for his new team Real Sport Clube, based in Queluz in the Greater Lisbon area. At only 25 years old, his death has come as a huge shock, and he will be fondly remembered for his time at Thetford Town, being part of the famous team that reached the Norfolk Cup Final, it was clear that he was always destined for bigger things. Quevin was commemorated in the matchday programme, as well as with a display of flowers followed by a poignant minute of applause before kick-off. Our thoughts are with Quevin's family and friends at this difficult time.

After another warm and dry day, it was a pleasant mild evening and the pitch was immaculate, perfect conditions. The teams came out and lined up in front of the crowd, with Thetford Town in claret and blue and Harleston Town in black and white stripes, before heading to the centre-circle for the minutes applause in honour of Quevin.

KEY MOMENTS

TT = Thetford Town

HA = Harleston Town

3' - TT - GOAL (1-0) - A short corner routine between Olpin and Harvey Lott, Lott with a cute ball into the near-side of the box, Ward leaps up to hit the ball towards goal and Diggens guides it into the net on the volley, perfect start for the hosts.

12' - TT - Incredible skill from Harvey Lott down the right flank, he skins his man and find Diggens just inside the box, he shimmies from left-to-right to wrong foot the defender before firing in a low cross-goal strike that arrows just wide of the far-post.

16' - TT - Kirk on the right skips past the defender and pulls the ball back across the box, it takes a mild deflection but Diggens manages to get on the end, his effort also taking a minor deflection and into the defender standing on the line who clears, so close to the 2nd, but great defending to deny the goal.

20' - HA - GOAL (1-1) - Harleston win a free-kick in a dangerous area, it is whipped in perfectly by Durham and Harleston's star striker Reed is on hand to guide the ball into the net from close range with his head, hard to defend a set-piece as precise as that one.

33' - HA - A corner ball taken by Durham, it is curled into the far-post and a towering header from Buttery, directed back across the goal, is cleared off the line by a Thetford defender, that's why you stick men on the post during a set-piece.

45'+5' - HA - GOAL (1-2) - Just before the interval, some brilliant play from Harleston youngster Bertie Oliver, on the left he breaks through two challenges, darts into the box, and curls the ball into the top-right corner of the goal, another moment of magic from the 17-year old following his recent FA Cup winner, impressive stuff, hats-off to the young man!

58' - TT - Harvey Lott with a ball into Kirk, he deftly flicks it over the defender and runs onto it, he is bearing down on goal but Blowers is out fast and makes the stop, denying Kirk a sensational goal, gutted to say the least.

83' - TT - GOAL (2-2) - Thetford keep plugging away despite both club captain Sam Bond and left-winger Buttle going off injured, and eventually reap the rewards. A neat ball crossed in from the right by Cooper is met by the leaping substitute Piggott, his header roots Blowers to the floor but the ball slams into the post and out, but ever the opportunist, Diggens pounces on it first and slams the ball into the back of the net on the rebound, and the crowd erupts.

91' - TT - Another pin-point diagonal from Wells (he must have hit at least 10 perfect diagonals this game!) is met by Grove more advanced on the left-flank, an unreal initial touch to control the ball, he skips past the Harleston defence and into the box, where his drilled effort is saved by Blowers.

92' - TT - Substitute King on the edge of the box nudges the ball across the open Diggens who lets rips, the ball is flying in, just below the bar to the right, but Blowers somehow tips the effort over the bar, to deny Diggens his hat-trick and Thetford Town their winner, superb stop.

That was a brilliant end-to-end game, with both teams going for the win, and was a fitting tribute indeed. Thetford came hot out of the blocks and were unlucky to not be 2-goals up, but Harleston weathered the storm and played themselves back into the game, the Reed goal the catalyst, and for the next 30mins or so the visitors had the upper hand culminating in a late-goal just before the break to put them 2-1 up, courtesy of an outrageous goal from a youngster. Thetford desperately looked for the equaliser, and as Harleston began to feel the pressure some less than accurate challenges came in causing a few knocks and receiving a few yellows for their troubles. With the fresh legs off the bench, including club legends Elliot Smith and Cameron King, the pressure told and Thetford bagged their equaliser, and would have nailed a winner if it were not for a world-class save! Harleston are a strong squad with a lot of depth, so this shows the measure of where Thetford are, and how good a performance this was. If Thetford Town want to maintain their unbeaten start to the season, they face a tough away trip this Saturday as they travel down to Brantham Athletic, who have had a good start to the season, but if Thetford play like they did at the end of this game, they should have nobody to fear, UP THE TOWN!!!

Line-Ups:

THETFORD TOWN: Ollie Sutton, Kyran Cooper, Dylan Grove, Josh Wells, Sam Bond (C), Ronnie Ward, Callum Olpin, Harvey Lott, Dylan Kirk, Jordan Buttle, George Diggens. SUBS: Cameron King, Elliot Smith, Lawrence Blyth, Theo Piggott, Jaydyn Lott.

HARLESTON TOWN: Alex Blowers, Brandon Pickess, Aston Jaggard, Josh Durham, Ollie Ebbage, Shane Cox (C), Spencer Cawcutt, Nathan Page, Jake Reed, Josh Buttery, Bertie Oliver. SUBS: Graham Hinton, Joel Wilson, Macauley Holt, Tyler Halliday, Connor Delaney.