So my first football of 2017 took me to one of my local clubs Great Wakering Rovers which for me is about a 20 minute bus ride away. They were hosting Norfolk side Dereham Town in a Ryman One North encounter.
Now it’s fair to say Wakering have struggled somewhat this season and at kick off sat second bottom, eight points from safety. They also came into this one off the back of a 5-0 hammering to Ware at home a week ago, leading to manager Keith Wilson to express his anger and frustration at his players performance and attitude.
No doubt he was looking for a reaction in this game and it’s fair to say so was Dereham boss Matt Henman of his side too after they also lost 5-0 at home last time out, although that was to the league leaders Maldon & Tiptree. Dereham sat in 15th place at kick off although they were way clear of the drop zone and in touching distance of the top half so Wakering knew another tough test awaited them.
The first few minutes saw the visitors put the hosts defence under pressure without really testing young keeper Tyler McCarthy to much and as the game got to the quarter hour mark the home side had seemed to have settled and started to look dangerous going forward themselves.
However on 17 minutes the visitors to hit the front and it was from an error from the young keeper sadly. A corner from the right saw keeper McCarthy punch weakly out to Daniel Beaumont and with no one putting any pressure on him he took a touch and rifled an effort beyond McCarthy and defenders on the line for the opening goal.
Soon after this the first half was halted for around ten minutes or so after the linesman on the near side pulled his calf muscle and despite several minutes of treatment he was unable to continue meaning a Wakering club official had to take over for the remainder of the contest. It didn’t help to get what was now a rather scrappy encounter although it was fairly competitive nonetheless.
The hosts knew that they must not concede a second goal before the break and in the twelve minutes of stoppage time that followed they almost did when after a cross from the right was not closed down, the visitors sent a header just wide when it really should have hit the target. Still Wakering were looking ok going forward so an early second half goal could turn the tide so to speak.
Half Time Great Wakering Rovers 0 Dereham Town 1
Now it was imperative that Wakering did not concede early in the second half right? Well unfortunately two minutes into the half they did fall further behind as the ball found it’s way to an unmarked Beaumont on the left side of the area and he duly drilled an effort beyond a rather static McCarthy and into the net.
Dereham thereafter were fairly dominant and could and should of added to their tally, especially when Joe Gatting was presented with a chance from twelve or so yards out but could only hit it over the bar. The hosts needed to find something to get back in the game but on 63 minutes fell foul of a classic counter attack as after Jake Gordon had tested visiting keeper Will Viner, Dereham went straight up the other end and saw Gatting find the net this time and give his side a three goal cushion.
But what was to happen next was unreal. Last weekend Wakering keeper McCarthy had hit a clearance straight at a Ware player and saw it end up in the net, well this was even worse. After the keeper had claimed the ball from a Dereham attack with no one else around him other than his skipper Nikki Beale a few yards in front of him jogging away from goal he proceeded to blast his drop kick straight against Beale’s head and see the ball go back past him and into the net, it was truly unbelievable and something I have never seen before.
It was alarming how badly the hosts had unravelled in the second half though and were heading for another heavy home defeat. Gordon did keep trying to find the net for Wakering with a few long range efforts but non of these really tested keeper Viner.
And on 78 minutes the visitors did make it five when more poor defending allowed the ball to be knocked across goal for Gatting to kind of chest/thigh the ball over the line as he was falling over the line with the ball. It had certainly been a ruthless half of attacking football from the visitors although some of the hosts defending hadn’t helped the cause. Keeper McCarthy had probably had better games too so all these factors didn’t help the cause.
So another awful afternoon for the hosts and this leaves them still eight points from safety with just fifteen games remaining. For Dereham it’s a welcome win and keeps them in 15th, some sixteen points above the drop zone and only eleven from the play offs.
Full Time Great Wakering Rovers 0 Dereham Town 5
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