Town Treat Fans to Five Goal Spectacular

Stuart Wardley’s men showed no fear, as they dominated a talented second place Thetford. It was a perfect display of what this talented group of men can do, with captain Spike Bell putting in another man of the match performance.

Saffron Walden Town FC 5 – Thetford FC 0

26th August 2017

The Bloods bounced back with a 5-0 thrashing of Thetford Town FC. Last Tuesday, 350 fans were treated to a 3-4 FA Cup thriller against Barking, which unluckily saw the Bloods exit the competition. With almost 200 spectators, Stuart Wardley’s men showed no fear, as they dominated a talented second place Thetford. It was a perfect display of what this talented group of men can do, with captain Spike Bell putting in another man of the match performance.

Both team started the match well, and looked for an opening. There was plenty of build-up play, but no clear chances. The defence, and fan favourite Ryan Fleming, showed experience and control and did not give Thetford a chance to get themselves into the match.
This all changed in the 17th minute, as Charlie Portway was awarded a penalty, after having his shirt pulled which denied a goal scoring opportunity. Portway stepped-up and buried the ball into the corner of the net.

Five minute after the penalty, Ashley Skeggs headed-in Spike Bell’s perfect cross into the back of the net, but the referee disallowed it, as he believed there was a foul on the one of the Thetford players.

This was soon forgotten about, as last year’s leading goal scorer Graeme Turner got his first goal of the season. He skilfully controlled the ball in the box, switched the ball onto his left foot and calmly slotted the ball in the top corner, beating defender Matt Morton on the line.

Pressure continued as Walden looked for the third, and again, Ashley Skeggs rose well from Bell’s corner and headed the ball into the back of the net.

HT: Saffron Walden Town FC 3 – Thetford Town FC 0

The Bloods looked confident in the second half, and moved the ball around well. Thetford looked for an early goal and pushed more players forward; which gave Walden a few issues, but the defence stood strong and were determined to keep a clean sheet.

As play continued, it was the Bloods who looked the favourite to score the next goal. Tom Lakin ran onto a through ball, fending off the defender. He struck the ball perfectly and rattled the back of the net, leaving Barnes no chance of saving it.

It was a case of ‘Blink and you’ll miss it’ for the next goal. The ball was won back from the restart and fed to Spike Bell. Bell ran with the ball like a bull through the Thetford defenders. He crossed the ball to Portway, who skilfully controlled the ball, and slotted it into the top corner of the goal.

The crowd loved every minute, and encouraged the team to shoot at every opportunity. Walden showed composure and closed out the last 10 minutes and earned themselves all three points and a clean sheet.

Fans MOTM went to Spike Bell

FT: Saffron Walden Town FC 5– Thetford Town FC 0

The Team:

Neil O’Sullivan, Spike Bell (C.), Ronnie Ledwith, Jacob Noble, Ashley Skeggs, Ryan Fleming, Thomas Lakin (Flynn Tarman 75 mins), Connor Molloy (Joe Murphy 65 mins), Graeme Turner, Charlie Portway (Mason Naylor 75 mins), Oliver Emdsen. Subs not used: Stuart Wardley.

Attn: 197