Swaffham Town pile pressure on Thurlow Nunn First Division leaders after third successive win
Charlie Gunner scores his second goal during Swaffham Town Reserves' 9-0 thrashing of Hempnall Reserves. Picture: Eddie Dean - Credit: Eddie Deane
Swaffham Town are starting to put pressure on the top two in Thurlow Nunn First Division after winning their third successive match.
Charlie Gunner heads just widel during Swaffham Town Reserves' 9-0 thrashing of Hempnall Reserves. Picture: Eddie Dean - Credit: Eddie Deane
The Pedlars travelled to Ipswich Wanderers, who were a place ahead of them in the table before kick-off.
The very wet and difficult pitch conditions made the going hard and the Pedlars got off to a disastrous start, conceding after four minutes and going 2-0 down after 32 minutes.
Joe Jackson pulled one back seven minutes before half-time, beating the Ipswich right-back and shooting low across goal, beating the keeper.
Ten minutes into the second half, Lewis Thompson was substituted after jarring his knee and replaced by Alex Vincent, returning following illness.
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The Pedlars applied pressure and efforts through in-form Rory Harper but Toby Hilliard failed to hit the mark. The equaliser finally came in the 73rd minute, Vincent cutting across his man and striking from the edge of the box high into the top left-hand corner.
Shocked Wanderers countered and great keeping by Lee Brooks, pushing the ball onto the bar, denied the noisy home supporters their celebrations.
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The final upset for Ipswich came four minutes from time when, from a free-kick awarded on the halfway line, Wanderers failed to pick up Vincent on the right wing.
Jack Redhead fed the kick through for Vincent to run onto, he beat the left-back and lashed a shot across goal, beating the keeper and sailing into the top corner.
The visiting bench erupted and the home support went quiet. Swaffham held strong for the five minutes of added time, although there was a disappointing incident just before the final whistle when an Ipswich player appeared to stamp on Hilliard.
The Pedlars moved up to third place in the league and will hope to make up further ground on the top two on Saturday when struggling Needham Market Reserves visit Shoemakers Lane for a 3pm kick-off.
There were wins for all three of Swaffham's senior teams on Saturday.
The reserves had an impressive 9-0 victory over Hempnall Reserves, with a hat-trick from captain Jamie Buhlemann and a brace from Charlie Gunner added to by goals from James Dougal, Ashley St John, Lewis Fuller and an own goal.
The A team were in cup action and earned a hard-fought 4-3 win away to Morley Village, with a hat-trick for Blake Stangroome and a strike from Luke Askew doing the damage.
The reserves are also celebrating after being named the Anglian Combination's team of the month for December, when they won all four Division Three matches.
Ray Ewart
