Felixstowe & Walton United FC

FELIXSTOWE & WALTON UTD 2 - 3 DEREHAM TOWN

 Seasiders let two goal lead slip to fall to home defeat

Felixstowe & Walton United will be wondering just how they managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in this match, leading 2-0 just after the hour and with the visitors, Dereham Town down to ten men, somehow they allowed the in-form Norfolk side to come back and take all three points.

The Seasiders made two changes to the side that fought for a valuable point at Tilbury last weekend, Henry Barley coming in for Stuart Ainsley in the starting eleven, whilst new signing Ollie Canfer started on the bench.

Dereham came into this game on the back of a seven game unbeaten run, including four consecutive victories, in which they had scored twenty goals. The first half was a pretty even affair, both teams playing some good high tempo football. The Magpies best chances came from the lively Rhys Logan, shooting into the side netting when in a great position, and floating a cross into the box that clipped the crossbar before being gathered by Danny Crump in the Felixstowe goal. The Seasiders were also creating chances and were looking dangerous from set pieces, Miles Powell and Sam Nunn saw headers clear the bar but it was Nunn again who rose highest for another corner on 21 minutes to head through a crowded box and into the net.

A challenge on Armani Schaar by Dereham’s David Hinton just before the hour mark saw him receive a second yellow card from the busy referee and reduce his side to ten men. Felixstowe increased their advantage shortly after, Jack Newman finishing superbly after bursting into the area and beating a couple of defenders en route to goal.

The Seasiders were looking comfortable up to this point, solid at the back, industrious in midfield and full of running up front, however, as is often the case when a team is down to ten men, the shape of the game changes and with the Dereham management urging their team to get forward quicker and to “go long”, it was the visitors who were now making all the running and it was no surprise when Rhys Logan shot from the edge of the box to find the bottom corner, Felixstowe were still creating chances themselves and George Clarke came within a whisker of restoring the two goal lead after a great run, but he couldn’t quite find the finish to match the quality of the build-up play.

Dereham equalised on 76 minutes, Ryan Crisp finding the space in the box to turn and fire a crisp shot into the bottom right corner. Felixstowe were clearly rattled and it showed on 87 minutes when Robbie Linford was allowed to fire home his sides’ third goal to complete the comeback.

Seasiders boss Stuart Boardley was obviously disappointed, saying after the match, “It is difficult to take, it was a replay of the Brentwood game” (Felixstowe letting three goal lead slip to draw three all) “I thought we were in control of the game at two nil, but we completely lost our discipline and our shape, and allowed them to come back into the game.” He went on to say, “We had chances to get a third goal, and if George Clarkes effort goes in then we would have gone on to win the game, games turn on small details like that and unfortunately it did for us, we have something in our make-up at the moment where when the chips are down we need players to stand up and change the game back to in our favour, but at the moment we don’t have that about us, and that is what we need to change.”

Felixstowe will go into the next game, at home to Romford next Saturday, keen to show that they can compete for a full ninety minutes. Romford may be bottom of the league but will no doubt be a handful, with a much changed squad and an interesting looking management team in place.

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