Ghosts pick up a point while Downham, Heacham and Swaffham all lose

Fakenham Town were the only regional senior side to pick up a point in Thurlow Nunn League action this afternoon.The Ghosts were forced to come from behind in a 2-2 draw against Hadleigh United at the Daly Group Stadium.Jake Watts gave Andy Cunningham’s side the lead early in the Premier Division clash before Hadleigh levelled the scores midway through the first half.The visitors added a second to take a 2-1 lead into the interval before Alex Walpole earned the Ghosts a share of the spoils with an equaliser within a minute of the restart.Downham Town’s hopes of making the play-offs suffered a big blow after a narrow defeat at promotion-chasing Mulbarton Wanderers. Owen Lane registered the only goal of the game midway through the first period.Craig Dickson and Dale Stokes’ side remain sixth in the table but now find themselves six points off the play-offs with three league games left to play. Next up for Downham is their Norfolk Senior Cup final against Watton United at the Football Development Centre on Tuesday night.There were goals galore at Heacham – the home side scoring the best two of them – in a 5-2 home defeat to second-placed Newmarket Town. Ali Conway fired visitors in front, only for Charlie Royle to redress the balance after beating two players and firing into the top corner from all of 25 yards.Newmarket took the lead early in the second half as Conway’s corner was met by the head of William Gardner. Conway made it 3-1 with his second of the game despite a strong suspicion of offside as the visitors made the most of the wind behind their backs in the second half.Five minutes from time, Owen Gilbert let fly from all of 30 yards to haul the Magpies back into the game with another contender for goal of the season. But all of Heacham’s hard work went to waste when the Jockeys broke upfield from the restart to make it 4-2, as Conway completed his hat-trick.Two minutes into stoppage time, Jacob Mingay stepped up to score from the spot to confirm the Jockeys spot in the end-of-season play-offs.In the Thurlow Nunn First Division North, second-placed Framlingham were too strong for the Pedlars as they picked up a 3-1 win at the Uncle Luke’s Stadium.