Thorpe Village 1 Easton 2

Easton were back in action again with our first away game of the season making the short trip down the A47 to play Thorpe Village.

Easton had the chance to name the same 14 that beat North Walsham so comfortably on Friday night. Thorpe hadn't started the season well with a 5-1 reverse away at Swaffham but have always been a tough nut to crack at home.

Easton made just the one change to the 11 with Cal Burke coming in to replace Greg Dimsey in central midfield with Saturdays game in mind.

On a "interesting" looking pitch Easton kicked off and were shortly behind. Thorpe were going back to front very quickly and another long thrown in wasn't cleared despite one or two chances to get the ball away and the Thorpe midfielder shot through a group of players to find the bottom corner.

Rather than heads dropping this seemed to spark Easton in to life and the majority of the remaining 40 minutes were playing in the Thorpe half of the pitch. In what was at times a bizarre and frustrating period Easton struck the bar twice, post three times and had at least two efforts from less than 6 yards touched to safety. The players however reacted superbly to all of this seemingly bad luck and kept pressure high forcing numerous corners, last ditch challenges and good saves from the goalkeeper.

Parity was restored around ten minutes before the break when more good play in midfield Cal Burke broke away from the Thorpe line and found Josh Bull who kept his calm and placed a good left footed finish into the far bottom corner. The rest of the half continued in the same vain but scores were level at half time.

HT 1-1

An easy message to deliver at half time with it very much just being "more of the same."

The second half started very much as the first ended with another couple of chances passing by and it was beginning to feel like "one of those days". After another break away Wheeler was brought down on the left and from the following free kick Al Williamson's strike found the hand of the Thorpe player. Penalty. Unfortunately this was not to be the break that Easton were searching for as Wheelers well struck penalty was saved by the Thorpe keeper. Despite this setback the tempo remained high and finally after a quick throw from Calum, Raffa rifled the ball home to give Easton the lead.

After this Easton kept Thorpe at bay with some good defending and while trying to pick Thorpe off on the counter another couple of goals could have been added. Thorpe tried gamely to respond but were very much second best on the night but with many of their players missing they will be sure to be a tougher prospect when we face them in the cup in a few weeks time.

FT 1-2

A superb response from the whole side after going 1-0 down so early was the most pleasing thing and the willingness not to let frustration get the best of us bodes well going forward. We are back in action this Saturday when we welcome CEYMS Res to the college who have been certainly talking a good game. Your support is, as always, more than welcome.