Norfolk rivals Gorleston and Thetford Town meet in the Thurlow Nunn Premier Division today, with both teams badly in need of a win.

Thetford go to Emerald Park having been through a strange month, ever since beating Norwich City Under-21s in the fourth round of the Norfolk Senior Cup.

The Brecklanders drew at Felixstowe & Walton United and won at Mildenhall but then managed to lose 4-1 at home to FC Clacton despite dominating the first half and gave away a 3-0 lead with six minutes to go at home against Newmarket last week.

While Gorleston's bright start to the season has faded with three defeats in a row in the league, leaving the Greens just three points and two places better off than Thetford in the table.

All of which promises for an enthralling encounter, with Thetford boss Mark Scott saying: 'We've been playing some wonderful football, there's been a lot of positives to take, but realistically we should have had six points from our last two games, and we've got one.

'A bit like our last game with Gorleston (in October), we were 3-1 up in that game and then I think it was in the 96th minute when they scored their third to get a draw, and at Felixstowe recently, we were 2-1 up until the 97th minute.

'So we have been extremely entertaining but have not picked up the required points at the required times, so we have been very unfortunate. They say you make your own luck though and today I think we are confident we can get something at Gorleston, which is a place where I have never picked up three points before.'

The Brecklanders will be without the unavailable defensive duo of Sam Bond and Ashley Thompson, but Halen Smith is home from university to soften the blow.

The Greens meanwhile have been boosted by the permanent signing of striker Luke Bailey from Dereham, confirmed in mid-week, but manager Richard Daniels is staying calm about his team's recent wobble.

'I think a lot of people have got a bit carried away with the start we had, but people have got to realise we lost some real talent to Wroxham in the summer, and that's been proved with how well they're doing,' Daniels said.

'We beat Hadleigh and Norwich United and people were expecting us to sustain that but we have a new team with a lot of youngsters, it's a long season and results are starting to catch up with us a bit.'

Elsewhere in the division, Norwich United look to maintain their three-point lead at home against lowly Wivenhoe Town and Kirkley & Pakefield could move up to third with victory at home against Ipswich Wanderers.

Swaffham Town look to remain in the First Division title hunt at home against mid-table Halstead, with Great Yarmouth looking to climb into the top six with a win at Debenham and Downham hosting bottom-of-the-table Woodbridge,

For today's full fixtures, see page 15.