Loddon Utd 5 - 4 Thetford Rovers Sat 31st August 2024 2.15pm ko
Scorers: Marcus D-M 2 (1 pen), Chris H 2, Shane S.
Assists: Knightsy, Chris H, Shane, Marcus, Lewis (won pen)
Loddon: Daniel Loades; Tom Sergeant, Jack Tipple, Robin Andersen (capt.),
Josh Knights; Liam Pye, Matthew Webster; Chris Husband; Darrell Wigger,
Shane Smith, Marcus Dunthorne-McInerney.
Subs: Harvey Johnson, Lewis Hill, Matt Ayre
Manager: Jake Sharpe Asst. Manager and cheerleader: El Hannant

Phew, what a thriller, us coming out on top (for a change) and sharing nine top quality goals. Even ‘Critics Corner’ at the Crossway Terrace End was a sell out. Rumours of free worthless Oasis tickets following the latest brotherly split, may have helped.
With El finally taking his Asst Manager role seriously, he dropped himself to the bench to save his energy (what energy I hear you ask) for his honeymoon. He may have to get used to it as the ever flexible Sarg filled in at right back with consummate ease! We also hailed the debut of new signing Darrell Wigger on the right.
We started pretty well moving the ball left and right going forward and our defence comfortably dealt with Rovers’ attacks. That is until a clearance from our corner eventually found Dan outside his box. Unable to pick the ball up he struggled to deal with the situation and gifted Rovers with their first goal on 13 minutes. 0 – 1
Rovers next attack saw Rob slip and Dan make amends with a finger tip save to concede a corner which was cleared, but momentum had suddenly shifted. A spell of easy loss of possession didn’t help our cause and Sharpey barked some home truths.
Shane turned and shot over into the Crossway Terrace stand (garden)… the crowd didn’t blink…or notice! The next chance fell to Knightsy but his uncontrolled effort went even higher than Shane’s. Rovers must’ve learnt a thing or two; they broke right, and not to be outdone, their shot cleared the new fence…early action for Milo!
A flick-on saw the visiting no4 go through rather easily and fire off target. Sarg was fouled but wasted the free kick. Rovers broke right, the no10 crossed and a deft touch from no11 found the inside of Dan’s right hand post. 0 – 2 down after 24 minutes!!
We tried to offer Rovers another chance: Knightsy passed back to Rob, Rob left it for Dan who picked up the ball and the Ref gave the free kick. We blocked it well and the ball deflected nicely to Dan… a little luck at last!
Sarg collected from Jack and carried the ball 60 odd yards forward to win a corner. Knightsy’s low cross was glanced across the face of goal by Marcus…our best chance so far. From a throw down our left, Knightsy received and accurately crossed to the far post where Chris ‘The Ghost’ Husband crept in and classily volleyed home to claw one back on 28 mins. 1 – 2 woohoo, geddit?
Three minutes later with a spell of possession so contradictory to the first 20 minutes I have to include everyone in it’s build up. Right side of the field….Tipps to Webbo to Sarg to Webbo to Rob to Tipps to Knightsy on the left….you all still with me?
Knightsy to Marcus, cross blocked and spilled to Liam, to Rob to Sarg.. peachy ball through to ‘The Ghost’ in the right channel…delicious cross to Shane close in..easy header ….2 – 2…what a team goal, we were back in it!
Momentum shifted back to us and we continued to press forward, Knightsy and Sarg seeing plenty of the ball. Chris fired over and was ‘lucky’ to be called offside before Dan went down bravely with ‘Jack Sparrow’ (Rovers’ no9) who chased a through ball. After a couple of ciders Dan recovered. A Wiggo cross was cleared to The Ghost but his shot found the Crossway car park…again MCC (Members of Critics Corner) unmoved. Another Rovers’ ball over the top had Rob back peddling with a vital touch back to Dan. We defended well, got the ball to Marcus who drew a free kick outside Rovers’ box. Knightsy took the kick, Rob’s header dropped onto the bar and away and we went in level at 2 – 2 HT.
Rovers restarted with a driven cross across our box but Dan was untroubled. He then read and came to thwart Rovers no19 on the end of a diagonal through ball before collecting a tame 25 yard daisy cutter. Our slow start to the second half picked up after 5 minutes. A decent move broke down when Marcus miscontrolled. But then Tipps found Sarg, he fed Wiggo whose chip forward was cleared to Chris. He played into Shane’s feet and his neat touch found Marcus on the left who cut inside into the box onto his right foot, and curled a superb shot around the stretching keeper to score inside the far post. 3 – 2
Dan made a good save following a long Rovers’ throw. Chris won a free kick, which Knightsy took and Shane’s effort was cleared off the line. Webbo helped out Liam with a brilliant tackle before Chris intercepted a backpass, switched feet effortlessly but shot against a post. The ball stayed in play, Shane recovered it and Webbo set up Wiggo whose shot was blocked. We had Rovers a little rattled and at this stage looked every bit the likely winners. The Robster, looking more majestic as the game progressed, found Chris who moved it onto Marcus. He was blocked, but retained the ball and cleverly back heeled to The Ghost who finished superbly from about 12 yards. 62 mins...4 – 2
We’d gone from 11 players looking as though they had just been thrown together to some quality and chemistry throughout the team; quite simply a joy to watch…but wait…we took our foot off the pedal… just a bit, and Rovers went longer only to find Rob, Tipps and Dan equal to it. Shane was caught just offside after good work again by Chris. Shane then tried his luck from wayout noticing the keeper off his line.
With 17 mins left on the clock Shane was replaced by Harvey, and Lewis came on for Wiggo. On 77 mins, from a long throw, ‘Jack Sparrow’ got a vital touch to decrease Rovers deficit. 4 – 3 arghh
This was now squeaky bum time; 15 or so minutes to hang on. In fact we did better than just hang on. Liam found Lewis who attacked the right of the box, the keeper came but spilled the ball, Lewis retrieved and the keeper decided to grab Lewis’ leg; penalty given. Marcus made no mistake from the spot sending the keeper the wrong way and the fans into raptures of relief. 5 – 3 (The MCC didn’t flinch!)
Rovers got another back when Rob was put on his backside and a clever chip found our net on 82 mins to put us back into that nervy territory. A great win by Tipps gave Lewis a chance but he chipped over from a tight angle. Lewis then set up Liam who fired just wide from distance. We tried to use the corners of the field to ‘game manage’; their lino was booked for ‘interfering’ when Liam was trying to take a throw….bizarre; and Knightsy went close with a header (why is he up there?). Harvey had a great shot tipped wide, and Sharpey and El coaxed the boys into extra effort and better game management. Max went on for Marcus to help defend a Rovers’ corner. Tipps met the first cross, Knightsy the second and Max the third. They tried a shot from the halfway line but we held out well to secure the three points….. the changing room ROCKED! Phew
Musker McIntyre MOM was shared again, this time between Marcus and The Sarg (good name for a band?)… but there were several in the frame!

Thanks to Paul Southgate – LUFC Alumnus for kindly sponsoring the game.

Utterly ‘Spellbound’’…JC