Thetford 5, Fakenham 0

THETFORD Town halted Fakenham’s revival with a nap hand in Ridgeons Division One on Saturday.

“I think we caught them on the hop,” said Thetford manager Mark Scott of centre-half Dave Richard’s early goal against Fakenham from a free-kick.

“They didn’t expect us to come out so quickly. It gave my lads the boost of confidence they needed after a disappointing display against Team Bury on Monday.”

He said Thetford played some lovely football and were hungry to get the ball back when they lost possession, which has been lacking at times this season.

Further goals came from Matt Dixon and Matt Blake (2) for a 4-0 lead at half-time.

“Fakenham showed a lot of character and spirit in the second half but they lacked bite in the final third of the pitch. We soaked that up, hit them on the counter and could have had three or four more goals.” The fifth came from Dixon.

After the disappointing defeat at Team Bury, Thetford Town entertained Fakenham Town and got off to a dream start with a goal within two minutes. A Jones free-kick was headed back across goal by Howard for Richards to score at the far post. It was all Town in the early stages and a good run from Mann ended in a corner, which was cleared. Bowden made a good save on 12 minutes to deny Fakenham, but it was all Town and Bolton went close after good play from Blake. Town went two up after 18 minutes when a ball from Richards found Tavares on the right and his cross found Dixon, who headed into the top corner. Fakenham fell foul of Town’s offside trap and Town increased their lead on 25 minutes when Dixon and Blake combined, with Blake hitting the ball into the bottom corner. Both Dixon and Blake where causing lots of problems for the Fakenham defence, with Blake’s pace being a constant threat. Town made it four just before half-time when Tavares found Blake whose run and final shot found the back of the net. Half-time: 4-0.

Credit to Fakenham in the second half, who tried hard to salvage some sort of result, but the Town defence were always in control and town scored a fifth on 70 minutes when good work between Blake and Dixon saw Dixon run on and slip the ball pass the advancing keeper. Town always looking dangerous on the break and might have had a penalty when Mann appeared to be pulled down in the area but the referee played on. The game ended 5-0, which was a great result for Town for the start of 2011.

Team: Bowden, Joseph, Howard, Richards, Haynes (Richards S), Tavares (O’Donnell), Jones (Piggott), Mann, Bolton, Dixon, Blake.

This Saturday Thetford entertain Ipswich Wanderers, 3pm kick-off.