Mildenhall Town 5 v. Ipswich Wanderers 3

Ridgeons Premier League

Saturday 24th September 2005

A goalkeeping crisis ahead of this game with Jamie Stannard calling off ill and Reserve ‘keeper Robbie Stannard going on holiday left no option but to sign on Martin Smith at short notice. Dean Tournay-Godfrey was on the bench but was not considered fully fit. The weather was glorious with the compact ground bathed with warm sunshine.

In the first 17 minutes, Wanderers were allowed to venture out of their half just once, that being for Jason Dozzell’s free kick on the halfway line. By this time Mildenhall had opened the scoring when Martin Smith let Hammond’s cross slip through his hands and Docking had the easiest of tasks to hammer the ball home. This goal injected some urgency into Wanderers play with Terry Layton’s cross being met by the head of Keith Hetherington which brought a fine diving save from Nower in the Mildenhall goal. It was 2-0 when North’s corner was met by Docking’s head as he ran into the area unmarked.

On 20 mins it was Docking again as he got in a shot from North’s cross which Martin Smith did well to palm round the post.

4 mins later a mix up between Martin Smith and Chris Tracey gave Docking a simple chance to sidefoot into an empty net, despite a desperate attempt by Mark Goldfinch to rescue the situation.

In a rare Wanderers attack, persistence by Keith Hetherington allowed him to cross for Marc Lowe to head home at the far post to give the visitors a foot in the game for the first time. Wanderers were on the attack again on 32 mins and Marc Lowe’s header fell to Keith Hetherington whose volley dipped just over the bar.

Wanderers were attacking more now but they were no closer to getting back into the game with Mildenhall looking more than capable of increasing their lead.

Mildenhall Town 3 Ipswich Wanderers 1

Wanderers started the second half in attacking mode when Jorrell Hurd, now making more of an impression down the right, cut across the face of the box and fired a shot which wrong footed Nower, but he was still able to get a hand to it and deflect it for a defender to clear.

Nower denied Jorrell Hurd again on 57 mins when he palmed his shot over the bar after Baker’s pass had split the defence and left Hurd with a clear shot.

However, Mildenhall effectively sealed their victory when a misunderstanding between Martin Smith and Jason Dozzell left the ball to run into the 6yd box and Paynter merely had to guide it into the empty net from an acute angle, via the far post. Docking got his 4th and his team’s 5th a minute later when the Wanderers defence stopped for what they thought was offside but the referee’s assistant didn’t. Wanderers got one back when Ricky Martin, on as substitute, volleyed home after good work by Jorrell Hurd and Rene Swann in the box. Substitute Libam hit the underside of the bar with a fierce shot, to remind everyone that Mildenhall were still a threat and wanted to score more.

It was Wanderers who finished the day's scoring when Keith Hetherington, who had beavered away all afternoon, was rewarded for his persistence when he won a physical tussle with Darby on the edge of the area and turned to squeeze a shot under the body of Nower just 4 minutes from the end.

This had not been the classic, ‘result in the balance ‘til the last kick’ sort of game as the scoreline might suggest, more a lacklustre performance from Wanderers midfield and a series of errors from the ‘keeper and defence to allow a Mildenhall side, with a porous backline, to control the game throughout.