Saturday 27th December  2008

Ridgeons League Division One

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Diss Town finished 2008 with their 4^th successive home win in all competitions. The local derby win took their points tally to 13 in the last five games and sets them up for tough away games at fellow promotion chasers Great Yarmouth Town and Brantham Athletic. The defeat was a sixth in seven games for Thetford.

The early stages of the game saw two of the six ex-Tangerines in the Thetford line up, Greg Devlin and Simon Mann, have shots well gathered by Matty Hill. Ben Soanes hit a well struck shot against the bar in reply. Appeals for a penalty when Danny Partridge went down were turned away midway through the half but by the interval two fouls on him did result in penalty kicks. Diss have now been awarded six penalties in their last six matches. Ross Bilham blocked a shot in the 28^th minute and the ball ran away to Partridge. He was moving away from the goal near the goal line when Bilham tripped him. Adie Hayes sent the ball low into Bilham’s right hand corner. Two minutes later James Wilson sent his header to a Hayes free kick against a post.

In the 34^th minute Partridge cut in from the left wing. He went past two defenders before his run was halted by a trip from Greg Devlin. Adie Hayes sent the ball into the opposite corner of the net as Bilham went to his right.

Thetford pulled a goal back ten seconds into the second half when Sam Bryant moved forward down the left and had his shot blocked by Hill. The ball fell kindly for Kwame Jones to tap in from close range against his former team. Three minutes later Luke Catchpole came close to scoring against his former team but Bilham made a great save to a well struck 20 yard free kick. Bilham made another good save in the 76^th minute to keep out a Steve Wright shot to a Soanes centre. Diss were having more of the attempts at goal but Thetford were having their fair share of possession and Diss were hanging on nervously at times, especially to a number of dangerous crosses. The home crowd were able to breathe more easily when Partridge made it 3-1 in the 81^st minute. Catchpole cut the ball out and found Soanes. He played a fine ball which saw Sam Giacomelli and Simon Jackson collide as they tried to cut it out. Danny Partridge moved through and slid the ball past Bilham from 15 yards out. Late in the game Partridge was high when well placed ten yards out.

Diss team: Matty Hill, Mark Shadrack, Ed Cussons, James Wilson, Steve Best, Adie Hayes, Andy Moody, Luke Catchpole, Ben Soanes, Danny Partridge, Steve Wright.

Diss subs: Danny Jones (for Catchpole 82 mins), Osiris Gomes (for Moody 66 mins), George Wilson (for Wright 84 mins), Mark Fowler and Ben Deacon.

Attendance: 191.

Match Sponsor: LMB Services Limited of Harleston.

Match Ball Sponsor: Jonathan Tidman.