Underogs Scole give a good account of themselves in Senior Cup
- Credit: Archant
Scole faced a massive uphill battle to proceed in the Norfolk Senior Cup when they took on Thurlow Nunn Premier side Thetford Town at Mundford Road.
Their mission was made even harder when James Harrison pulled up in training midweek, Connor Kerry succumbed to a niggling knock and regulars Dave Coleman and Nyle Barker hadn't fully recovered enough to take part,
So they started against Thetford, who play three divisions higher, with four regular starters missing.
In the face of this, Scole changed formation and went with a back five with a narrower midfield three and starting youngsters Kieran Manning and Harry Rollingson up top.
Scole managed to frustrate their opponents from the off and although they didn't offer much of an attacking threat, through sheer hard work and positional discipline they kept Thetford at bay until a deflected soft header in the 44th minute wrong footed Ben Buckmaster to give the hosts an undeserved lead.
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This shook Scole up to the degree that the Brecklanders got a second a minute later to give them a 2-0 advantage.
Despite coming in deflated and shocked Scole carried on in the second half with a determination to match Town right across the pitch. Indeed Ashley Baxter came close to pulling one back on 50 minutes when he was inches away from converting a Manning cross from the right while Manning himself had a couple of half chances.
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Although Thetford also had chances and hit the woodwork anyone who was watching as a neutral would not have known there was a such a gap in playing levels between the two sides. In time added on Thetford put the game to bed with a well-worked third goal which gave an even more unfair scoreline.
Scole can take a lot of positives from this game and all who played worked their socks off and held a disciplined defensive shape.
There is another big game on Saturday when league leaders Sheringham visit Ransome Avenue (2pm).
Scole Reserves beat East Harling Reserves 5-1 thanks to a first half hat-trick from Tom Green. Marcus Rolingson added a fourth after Harling had pulled one back. Scole were only able to add one further goal from Jordan Walters after the break,
