Thurlow Nunn Premier: Thetford Town 5-1 Downham Town
10th November 2026
Thetford Town vs Downham Town @ The Lomax Spiral Systems Stadium – Thetford
Thurlow Nunn Premier Division (Step 5)
19:45 KO
£9 entry
Attendance – 285
Half-time score: Thetford Town 3-1 Downham Town
Goals:
Thetford Town: King – 11’
Downham Town: Avis - 21'
Thetford Town: Buttle - 23'
Thetford Town: King - 45'
Thetford Town: Ward - 85'
Thetford Town: Piggott - 91'
Final Score: Thetford Town 5-1 Downham Town
Following Thetford Town’s sensational last minute against Soham Town Rangers on the weekend despite being down to 10-men, The Brecklanders faced another huge challenge this Tuesday night as they hosted Downham Town in a battle pitting 2nd vs 3rd. Downham Town have been very resolute this season, and were undefeated in the league until Saturday when they lost by a solitary late goal to Great Yarmouth Town. The visitors would surely be desperate to ensure they did not suffer two defeats on the bounce, whilst Thetford Town would be keen win to keep up with the high flying March Town United, setting things up nicely for a massive game this autumn evening!
Despite the weather turning colder recently, it remained a fairly mild evening, and the heavy mist that was present in the morning was thankfully nowhere to be seen. Before long the teams were lining up, with Thetford Town in claret & blue, and Downham Town in their all-blue change kits.
KEY MOMENTS
TT = Thetford Town
DT = Downham Town
2’ - TT - Thetford with an early chance, 70 seconds in Diggens intercepts the ball on the edge of the Downham box, he is at full stretch with his effort and the ball flies wide, unlucky.
11' - TT - GOAL (1-0) - Thetford with a set-piece, the ball drops to King on the edge of the box, he darts left and right, twisting the defenders in knots, before creating the gap and blasting the ball into the net, what a special player, fantastic goal from our talisman.
21' - DT - GOAL (1-1) - Downham peg Thetford back, a McQuaid corner is curled into the middle, the Thetford defender is in front of Avis, but he wraps his leg around in front of the defender and volleys the ball into the net, some finish from the ex-Thetford striker, classic Avo goal.
23' - TT - GOAL (2-1) - Thetford Town with an immediate response, a ball is fired up to Diggens, he flicks it on to Kirk who blazes down the right flank, getting in front Reed before driving a low ball across the box where the incoming Buttle slides in from close range, brilliant slick move from the lads, clinical!
27' - TT - Olpin with a deep ball into the box, Congreve punches clear but only as far as Diggens on the edge of the box, the connection is crisp but the ball arrows straight at Congreve, a foot either side and that was a goal, so close!
45' - TT - GOAL (3-1) - Cameron King with the ball on the left-hand corner of the box, he sees the gap and drills in a low daisy-cutter of a strike across goal and into the bottom-right corner, lethal accuracy and stone cold execution from Kingy, giving TTFC a 2-goal buffer before the break.
58' - TT - King takes a corner from the left, he gets a lot of whip on the ball and it curls in towards the goal, the flailing Congreve manages to get a touch on the ball to push it onto the bar and out, with Diggens poking the follow-up over, very close to an impressive hat-trick there.
61' - TT - Ward showing some great strength in the middle of the park to burst through, he looks up and feeds Kirk in down the right, he skips into the box at pace and powers in an effort at the near-post, but Congreve is equal to it, pushing it round the post for a corner.
66' - TT - Buttle demonstrates his blistering pace down the left to latch onto a switched ball, he takes it to the by-line and crosses towards the far-post, Kirk is there and the net is wide-open but his headed effort is directed the wrong-side of the post, unlucky.
85' - TT - GOAL (4-1) - Ward in the middle, things open up from him and from 20yrds out he unleashes a piledriver of a strike, and despite Congreve getting a hand on it there is simply too much pace and power on the ball and it continues on its path and almost bursts through the net, and with it any nerves that TTFC may have had are put to bed, have some of that! Great hit from Ronnie, special goal that.
88' - DT - Downham with a free-kick in the perfect position, McQuaid steps up, his effort is beautifully curled around the wall and is heading into the bottom left corner, but Dickerson gets down superbly and palms the ball away. It is great seeing Dicko back in goal again for TTFC, and what a fine save that was.
91' - TT - GOAL (5-1) - Thetford put the icing on the cake, a trademark lightning fast counter-attack releases substitute Piggott down the right, he is 1-on-1 and his touch is inch perfect, putting Congreve in no-mans-land, and he makes no mistakes to power the ball beyond the stricken keeper, some impressive finishing from the young man.
92' - TT - Downham still reeling from the Piggott goal almost immediately concede again, substitutes Harvey Lott and Henman-Mason play a couple of 1-2's to scythe through the Downham backline, the move finishing with a Lott strike in at the near-post, but Congreve is across well to deflect the ball out for a corner.
A game I must admit I was a bit nervous about before kick off, Thetford Town are having a brilliant season in the league but had not faced two of the best teams in Downham Town and March Town United, so this was a real test of our credentials, and boy did the the players step up to the challenge! To a man they were phenomenal, 9 or 10 out of 10 performances across the field, a complete team performance, with every substitute making a huge contribution, hammering 5 goals past the stingiest defence in the league, having only let in 14 goals before coming to Mundford Road. In the first half King produced two moments of magic to give us a commanding lead, and after absorbing a lot of pressure in the 2nd half Ronnie's knockout blow took the wind out of their sails and the substitutes ran amok, that is some fearsome pace to bring off the bench! It was great seeing Avis back at Mundford Road, and getting to witness another goal from him, he's certainly still got it! Thetford Town have now bagged two impressive wins on the bounce, but have little time to celebrate as the focus quickly shifts to Saturday, where they face a very stern test at a dangerous Stowmarket Town, another big performance is needed, and hopefully there will be a good TTFC following to spur the players on, looking forward to it, UP THE TOWN!!!
Line-Ups:
THETFORD TOWN: Ryan Dickerson, Kyran Cooper, Dylan Grove, Josh Wells, Hugh Cullum, Ronnie Ward, Cameron King (C), Callum Olpin, Dylan Kirk, Jordan Buttle, George Diggens. SUBS: Louis Henman-Mason, Harvey Lott, Theo Piggott, Sam Bond, Ben Mills.
DOWNHAM TOWN: Charlie Congreve, Dan Roberts, Luke Reed, George Watts-Sturrock, James Dunn, Matthew Castellan (C), Ben Terry, Nathan Davies, Shaun Avis, Eoin McQuaid, Tobiloba Lawal. SUBS: George Hutton, Harvey Easton, Matthew Blackford, Aston Thorrold, Simon Bird.
Comments