Magpies Blow Away Blues - Dereham Town vs. Maldon And Tiptree

It was a mixed weather day in Norfolk

Yet again, choosing a game came down to walking up and watching Twitter and seeing which games were defiantly on. This weekend the first one I saw was one hundred percent on was Dereham Town versus Maldon and Tiptree in the Ryman North League. I saw Dereham win comfortably at Wivenhoe last season on their way to the Eastern Counties Premier League title. The Magpies had adapted to life well in at a higher level and were sat just outside the play offs. Maldon too were having a good season and were just a few places behind Dereham in the league.

Moments before kick and the storm

The game kicks off in a fairly intense storm and this seems to affect the Dereham keeper who loses a tame effort but is able to regather the ball before it trickles over the line. Dereham then create a one on one chance and the defenders are relieved when the striker's touch is too heavy and the keeper is able to claim the ball. The referee then takes the players off for a few minutes as the storm intensifies. Moments after coming back on the Maldon keeper is perhaps a little lucky to stay on when he fouls the forward outside the box but the referee believes his defenders were covering. From the resulting free kick the Maldon defender buts the ball past his own keeper for the first own goal of the day. The hosts make it two shortly after when the ball is lashed in at the back post from a left wing cross. Maldon then get back in to the game as a free kick from wide goes in off the post. Just before half time Dereham regain their two goal lead from the penalty spot.

The Maldon goal

Both sides have half chances at the start of the half but it is Dereham who score the next goal. The wind is behind Dereham in the second period and this contributes to the fourth goal coming direct from a corner. The wind continues to cause havoc and Maldon score their second own goal of the day as the defender loses his bearings and heads a long ball over his goal keeper who had no chance. Maldon then harshly have a goal ruled out as the Dereham keeper loses the ball but the referee blows for a foul on the goalie to spare his blushes. Maldon then have there best period of the game as they dominate possession. Firstly the winger is able to cut in from the right hand side and squares the ball across the box and the ball is put just over. Then the winger is able to get to the byline but no one gets a touch to his cross. Despite all their chances it is Dereham who get the next goal. A free kick from the edge of the box thunders against the bar and the Dereham player is first to react and puts the ball home from close range.    

The clubhouse side of the ground

Dereham takes a long time to get to from London. Firstly you have to get a train to Norwich from Liverpool Street which takes just under two hours. You then have to get the number 8 Konnect bus from outside the station which takes another forty minutes. Both the trains and buses are every half hour. Dereham is a pleasant market town and before the game I went to The Bull which had BT Sports for the early kick off and the staff were very helpful in helping me get to the ground. Aldiss Park is a good half hour walk from the town centre. The clubhouse looks fairly new and had ale on tap from a local brewery. If on the return journey you have a little while to wait for your train Norwich is well worth looking around. While waiting for my train I visited The Belgian Monk and The Norwich Tap House both of which had a fantastic selection of beers. There is also a very good chip shop just up the road from The Belgian Monk.

This was another great programme produced by a team in this part of the world. There is plenty of reading and it was interesting to see numerous people's views on the game in midweek at Soham.

Dereham on the attack in the first half

As I mentioned earlier, the game kicked off in quite a severe storm which eventually forced the referee to bring the players off. However, the conditions didn't only affect events on the pitch as the final pictures shows.