Men's 1st Team Vs Saffron Walden 1

Comfortable Victory for Dereham

Dereham Men's 1st team eased their way to a 4-1 win against newly-promoted Saffron Walden on Saturday, but could have won by many more. The hosts dominated the game but missed a number of chances throughout the match, hitting the woodwork twice and missing two penalty flicks.

Dereham welcomed the visitors following a long trip down to London the week before, where they put in an encouraging performance against league leaders Old Loughtonions but left with a 3-1 defeat. Dereham piled on the pressure from the starting whistle and opened the scoring with a short corner strike across the face of the goal from right back Ed Turner. Dereham extended their lead in first half with two well taken finishes by Will Edwards, smartly knocking the ball in from close range. Edwards then missed the chance to put Dereham further ahead from a penalty flick after a cynical stick tackle from the Saffron Walden defender.

After going into half-time 3-0 up Dereham were guilty of complacency at times in the second half, but maintained control of the game throughout. Their lead was extended by a further short corner strike from Turner before Saffron Walden pulled a goal back after a lapse in concentration from the Dereham defence. Dereham again missed the chance to increase their lead with a penalty stroke miss from attacking midfielder Laurie Hill.

Player Coach Mark Braybrook can feel encouraged with the progress the team is making this season and will be quietly (or not so quietly) pleased that his positional and structural tweaks are paying dividends. Dereham now have two wins out of three at home this season and are looking to build on the result with a further two home games on the bounce.

Dereham's next home game is 3:00pm Saturday 29th October vs St Albans.