Villagers fight back for point at Fakenham

The Villagers fought back from 2-0 down at half time to earn a point on the road at Fakenham Town.

The two clubs last met in 2019 when Long Melford overcame the Ghosts in the League Cup Final, and it looked like the Norfolk side might have got their revenge when they capitalised on defensive errors to take a quick-fire two-goal lead at half time.

Melford, wearing red socks loaned by Fakenham, the were left to rue a series of opportunities that could have seen them on the scoresheet in the first half, while Fakenham had what would have been a third goal ruled out for offside.

However, the Villagers showed their mettle in the second half and fought their way back into the game to take a valuable point.

On 58 minutes, Jamie Griffiths showed strength to shrug off two defenders wide on the left and drilled a low ball across the six yard box to where substitute Hassan Ally was on-hand to tuck away off the underside of the crossbar.

Four minutes later, Griffiths was again the instigator, linking up with Ben Judge in the middle of the park before releasing George Day in behind the Fakenham back line. Day applied a crisp left-foot finish from 20 yards that nestled into the bottom of the net.

Both sides pushed for a winner, and each had solid claims for penalties which were both waved away by the match official, and in the end a share of the spoils was probably the fair result.

Team: Walker, Mills, Wingfield, Jackson, R Waugh, A Waugh (Ally, 48), Hemson (Norris, 85), Brown (c), Day (Parnell), Griffiths, Judge
Goals: Ally 58, Day 62