Dereham got back into the habit of scraping a win this week with a 3-2 thrashing of our friends from Felixstowe.

Early exchanges were promising with Dereham pegging the vistors into their own D. However Stowe defended well whilst Dereham lacked that final pass, or indeed any passes at all.

Felixstowe decided to attack down their left side which unfortunately for them pitted them against flame haired defender Hank ‘hitman’ Laing. Time and again they were not only thwarted by the gangly defender but he counter attacked effectively as well. 

It was a well worked short corner which finally put Dereham ahead. In a brief pre-hit huddle a plan was formulated for the hit to go to the left post, unfortunately someone had swapped Jerry’s boots around, and with the L and R being on the wrong feet he duly drove a ferocious shot which rattled off the right hand post where thankfully Martin calmly slotted the rebound in for his 3rd goal of the season.

Felixstowe however came straight back and tired with being stopped down the left, and not wanting to eat  their Christmas dinner through a straw they avoided hitman Hank by going down the right. Overlapping the Dereham defence they equalized through their speedy forwards.

With the game finely balanced Captain Steve Marsh picked up the ball on the halfway line and started off down the pitch like a finely engineered runaway train, past a couple of midfielders, rounding the last defender and slotted the ball home past the advancing keeper. “Fantastic” “Breathtaking” and “pure genius” just some of the adjectives his Mum came out with when he told her later over the phone.

2-1 at half time.

The introduction of umpire turned player Shane Barnes bolstered the midfield and provided some well needed investment advice to the forward line.

Felixstowe started brightly in the second half and equalized for the second time after about 15 minutes.

With Les maintaining a diplomatic silence (no really) it was down to the other half of the double act. Pete to draw the attention of the umpires with an apparent attempted murder on a Stowe midfielder.

Dereham soon resumed their attacking stance and Shane now rampant in midfield put a cross through a crowded D for Steve to grab his second goal to make it 3-2.

Stowe pushed forward looking for another equalizer but it was Dereham who came closest when Shane again in the thick of it  put the ball past the post in what he claimed was an ‘unlucky’ miss from 2 yards out but which everyone else thought was simply inept. You really wouldn't trust him with your savings.


Scorers (league games) This season


Steve Marsh      8

Brian Reid         6*

Ian White         6

Jerry Reeve      4

Martin Bohn      3

Matt Hawker     2

Les Howlett      1

Robert Mann     1

Shane Barnes    1

*scored in an abandoned game