Wivenhoe Town 0 Dereham Town 3
Wivenhoe Town: 1) Adam Wilding 2) Jamie Lee-Smith 3)Tim Dennis 4) Tom Moore ( Markel Greenidge 34) 5) Tom Cutts 6) Bryan Turner 7) Joe Hawkins (Ben Parkin 45) 8) Ben Licence 9)Ray Catchpole (Luke Rogers 63) 10) TJ Amass 11) Liam Dadds Unused Subs: 14) Ben Milliard 16) Jamelle Jervis
Dereham Town: 1) Shaun Marshall 2) Olly Willis 3) Gary Starling 4) Jay Eastoe-Smith 5) Sam Burrer 7) Nicky Howell 8) Adam Smith 9)Billy Smith( Sam Pledger 18) 10) Scott Roberts (Neal Simmons 91) 11) Joe Marsden Unused Subs: 12 Olly Thomson 13) Chris Horton

How and why does this keep happening? Wivenhoe played by far the better football, dominated the first half and had as much of the second half as Dereham, and yet they lost and not only lost, but were beaten to nil by three clear goals. Yes, their defending was poor at times but they created enough chances to have scored at least one goal and some of the defensive problems in the second half were as a result of having to chase the game.
The first five minutes of the game, on a grey and showery autumn afternoon at Broad Lane were messy like the weather and it was hard to decide if we were still watching the warm-up. But on five minutes that all changed as the Dragons clicked into gear when Ben Licence received the ball, ran forward and then slipped it into the path of Liam Dadds who chipped a crossed to Joe Hawkins who contrived to miss with a diving header when the goal was gaping in front of him; and so began an exasperating afternoon. Five minutes later a shot from TJ Amass, who was unusually playing in a more forward role and had got on the end of a long pass, was pushed away by the bearded Marshall in the Magpies’ goal for the first of many Wivenhoe corners.
Dereham responded a minute later however as a free kick on the right side of the penalty area was met at the near post by Marsden, who cleverly flicked his header across the goal but beyond the far post. Sixty-seconds later however Dereham took the lead when Nicky Howell crossed from the right and Tom Cutts (cleverly disguised as Tim Dennis) raised a leg but only succeeded in deflecting the ball past Adam Wilding and into the far corner. Had Tim not tried to play the ball it would have gone straight to Adam. D’oh!
Wivenhoe now began a period of concerted pressure and launched a series of crosses into the Dereham box. Tom Moore sent a low cross right across the six-yard box whilst Ben Licence twice in quick succession made penetrating runs on the right, firstly putting in Liam Dadds to cross, and then earning a corner courtesy of Eastoe-Smith. From a 23rd minute Ben Licence corner Tom Cutts headed powerfully against the cross bar from a near post position. At this point the Dragons were earning corner after corner but then Dereham broke to the other end and missed good chances of their own as first Roberts failed to connect properly when unmarked and then Marsden headed a Howell cross past the far post, also unchallenged. Wivenhoe breathed a sigh of relief on 29 minutes too when Jamie Lee-Smith sliced the ball in to Adam Wilding's arms.
Having lived dangerously for a bit the Dragons went back on the attack as Jamie Lee-Smith fired in a swerving shot from almost 25yards which again Marshall could not hold. Ray Catchpole reacted first to claim the rebound but he misjudged his position and after turning well his shot went into the side netting ….but only after it had bounced off the wall of the terrace. Possession was quickly regained however and after an excellent run to the by—line, Markel Greenidge, who had come on for Tom Moore, pulled the ball back to Ray Catchpole on the edge of the six-yard box; Ray should perhaps have tried a shot or back-heel but he laid the ball back for Joe Hawkins who could not get in a clean shot and the ball was cleared.
At the other end Marsden again sent an effort across the face of the goal, but the last five minutes of the half generally saw the Dragons camped in and around the Magpies’ box. Marshall grabbed a 20yard strike from TJ Amass to his chest and from yet another corner Liam Dadds’ near post downwards header was blocked on the goal line, and then from a Ray Catchpole cross Liam and TJ got in each other’s way when there could have been a shooting chance. With the clock showing forty five minutes the action in the Dereham penalty area became frantic as a TJ Amass free-kick was cleared by Eastoe-Smith, but only to Ben Licence who fed Markel Greenidge and his shot was blocked before an indescribable melee led to an extended bout of head tennis from which Dereham eventually broke and Adam Wilding was forced into a save from Marsden. The first half ended however with the Dragons back on the attack, but a good interchange of passes between Ray Catchpole and Markel Greenidge broke down without any further threat to the Dereham goal.
The second half began with another substitution for Wivenhoe as Ben Parkin replaced Joe Hawkins. This change did not upset the attacking flow of the Dragons however, and from the off they pressured the Dereham goal winning even more corners as the Magpies’ defenders took every opportunity to ‘boot it out’. In the first minute of the half Liam Dadds looked poised to score with a header from a Ben Licence corner, but somehow he failed to make contact with the ball. Within a minute Markel Greenidge had also gone close as he ran at the goal on the left and twisted and turned to engineer a shot which rolled agonisingly wide of the near post with the defenders’ legs and feet tied in knots. Dereham were rocking at the back and Marshall didn’t help as he fumbled a low cross from Markel Greenidge to concede yet another corner. On six minutes Liam Dadds fed Markel Greenidge who in turn held up the ball and laid it back to Liam to shoot from 18 yards, but wide of the post again.
After the tension of the repeated Wivenhoe assaults on the Dereham goal some comic relief was provided on 53 minutes as the Magpie’s Howell cheerfully blocked a cross with his face and then proceeded to do a convincing cameo as a drunk, staggering around like a puppet whose strings had been cut before collapsing in a heap. Amazingly, after what seemed like very little treatment and checking to see if he was okay, he got up and played on.
Dereham were lucky to retain eleven players on the field after 56 minutes as Marsden got between Tim Dennis and Adam Wilding and blatantly knocked the ball goal wards with his hand; he escaped with a booking despite advice to the contrary from the crowd behind the goal. Perhaps typically such attempts at cheating were rewarded three minutes later as Dereham doubled their lead; Roberts running almost from the half way line before knocking the ball over Adam Wilding. A minute later Marsden also broke through but this time Jamie Lee-Smith was on hand to foil him.
The second goal succeeded in dousing the Dragons’ fight somewhat and Dereham came into the game more for the remainder of the match. As Wivenhoe struggled to get back into the game they left more gaps at the back and Dereham were able to get forward more easily. Indeed, on 66 minutes the Magpies almost scored again; a shot from Adam Smith was saved well by Adam Wilding, Howell hit the bar (well he would wouldn’t he) and Burt headed the rebound wide. The referee was again lenient towards Dereham on 70 minutes as Eastoe-Smith swept away the legs from beneath Markel Greenidge, and from behind too, but he was merely spoken to when a booking seemed appropriate.
Seven minutes later Dereham went three up through another own goal. Burrer shot from inside the box but Adam Wilding was equal to it and parried the ball, but only as far as Howell whose shot was sliced into the net by Jamie Lee Smith as he tried to clear it. In his possibly befuddled or stupefied state Howell appeared to be trying to claim the goal, but sadly for Jamie it was clearly his final touch that carried the ball in.
The game was now clearly over for Wivenhoe and a number of half chances fell to Dereham in the final minutes as Adam Wilding saved well from Howell and Burrer, whilst substitute Simmons sent a poor header past the post when unmarked. There was one last hurrah for Wivenhoe however, as seconds before the final whistle and deep into injury time a cross from TJ Amass was headed over by Luke Rogers.
This was another good performance from Wivenhoe despite the inconvenient truth of the score line. To play so well against the team placed second in the league indicates that the Dragons are able to compete in this League, but the lack of a clinical finisher and the tendency to leave gaps at the back is a fatal combination which undermines all the ability shown elsewhere on the field. The three man defence wasn’t entirely successful in the first half as Dereham often had a man over but otherwise the formation saw the Dragons dominate possession much of the time.
There is so much right with this team, including strength in depth, as evidenced by an excellent display from 17 year old Liam Dadds, that this run of frustrating results cannot continue…can it?