Fantastic Fakenham topple league leaders

Fakenham and Town and Downham Town both boosted their play-off hopes with big wins this afternoon while there were defeats for Heacham and Swaffham Town.The result of the day came at the Daly Group Stadium where the high-flying Ghosts inflicted the first defeat in the league on Thetford Town since the end of October.Two goals in the opening 25 minutes saw the home side take the game by the scruff of the neck.Jack Robinson opened the scoring in the 16th minute after a move involving Lewis Bonner and Luke Middleton.Seven minutes later, Middleton’s effort took a deflection before Robinson reacted first to double the Ghosts’ lead.That was how it remained until half-time before Middleton made sure of the win by adding a third midway through the second half.The win moved Fakenham up a place to second in the league standings – just two points behind today’s visitors having played the same number of games. Manager Alex Walpole said the players had set the bar for the remainder of the season with the win. “The best thing about today’s win was the performance,” he said.”Every single player was an eight or nine out of 10. We were clinical in both boxes, and that’s something we haven’t been able to say this season.”We know Thetford score for fun, so to beat them and keep a clean sheet is some achievement. “I could go through the whole team and talk about how good they were.”It’s a great way to start the league campaign for 2025, and the challenge now is to maintain that level of performance until the end of the season.” Fakenham are back in action again on Tuesday night when they visit Ely City in the League Challenge Cup.Downham Town are also right back in the mix after coming from behind to win 2-1 at Kirkley and Pakefield. The hosts took a 1-0 lead into the break as Downham wasted a catalogue of chances.But it was a different story after the interval as Eoin McQuaid scored twice to make it three goals in as many games to hand Dale Stokes’ side the three points.Downham Town are now fifth in the table, five points behind leaders Thetford but with a game in hand.Elsewhere, it was a bad day at the office for Heacham as they lost 2-0 at home to struggling Long Melford at the Heacham Sports Field. The defeat leaves Paul Hunt’s side 15th in the table with 26 points from as many games.In the First Division North, Whittlesey Athletic are now seven points clear of the relegation spots after a fourth successive home win, 2-0 against bottom club Swaffham Town, who look set to be playing Anglian Combination football next season.Skipper Harry Jenkins opened the scoring for Athletic after 25 minutes and Ollie Gale wrapped things up deep into the second half added on time.