The Yachtsmen played out a hard-fought 1-1 draw against their high-flying Harlow Town opponents this evening. Wroxham went behind in the 74th minute when the prolific Alex Read powerfully headed Dave Cowley’s free-kick past Elliot Pride in the Wroxham goal. The Yachtsmen hit back in the 82nd minute when a long free-kick by David Hinton was mis-punched by Niklas Freud into his own net. It was only as much as Wroxham deserved in a tight game. The draw lifted Wroxham one place in the table to leapfrog their Norfolk rivals Dereham Town.

There were three changes to the Yachtsmen’s starting ine-up from Saturday’s narrow defeat at Tilbury. Making his debut was former Norwich City trainee Nick Davey who has signed from Wisbech Town, Steve Holder moved off the bench to start as did Jamie Forshaw. The players who stood down being Nathan Stone and Andy Howell, both unavailable through work and Matty Waters who was unlucky to be on the bench after his debut on Saturday.

Harlow meanwhile travelled without the Senegalese international Ibrahima Sonko who was on holiday with his family.

Wroxham kicked off the game and were attacking from the off. A fantastic cross into the box from Jack Garrod couldn't quite be met by Nick Davey inside the Harlow penalty area. The first 20 minutes saw a huge improvement from Wroxham, after the disappointment last Saturday away at Tilbury. As the half progressed Wroxham started playing long balls into the box in hope, but on the slippery surface the forward players were unable to take advantage. In the later stages of the first half, Harlow's Joe Benjamin showed good pace and skill to drive down the left hand side before lifting a ball into the back post but Leon Antoine failed to keep the header down and Harlow saw a good chance go wasted. The best chance of the first half fell to Wroxham’s Jamie Forshaw. A scramble in the area saw the ball fall to Forshaw lurking on the edge of the six yard box, but he failed to connect powerfully with the ball and it ended being a comfortable save for Niklas Freund in the Harlow goal.

After an exciting first half, the game was still looking for its first goal. But as Jack Garrod picked up the ball on the half way line, a menacing run across the pitch, saw a pass slide through for a goal kick on the wet surface. As the Harlow supporters started getting behind their team, the players reacted. Antoine going close after cutting in from the left hand side forcing a good save from Pride. With Harlow attacking it left gaps in their defence as Wroxham probed. Garrod running the length of the pitch on the counter attack, before playing it out to Steve Holder. Unfortunately the powerful striker was unable to keep his shot below the crossbar.

With fifteen minutes left to go Harlow took the lead. A free-kick from Craig Pope was whipped into the area where the unmarked head of Alex Read made it 1-0 to the visitors. The goal saw the introduction of Matty Waters, who replaced the hard-working Steve Holder. In the final stages of the game, Jack Garrod won a free-kick on the halfway line. This was swung into the area by David Hinton. The Harlow goalkeeper attempted to punch the ball away from danger, but only managed to punch the ball backwards into his own net to make the scores level and more importantly give Wroxham their first point of the season.

Overall it was a well-deserved draw against a very good team, who finished runners-up in the league last season. This will give confidence to the team as they look forward to their next home game on Saturday when Thurrock are the visitors.

Wroxham

1 Elliott Pride
2 Steve Taylor
3 Danny Rust
4 David Hinton
5 Michael Sommerfield
6 Matthew Halliday
7 Jack Garrod
8 Jordan King
9 Nick Davey
10 Jamie Forshaw = 14
11 Steve Holder - 12
12 Matty Waters
14 Mac Gee
15 Sam Grady

Harlow

1 Niklas Freund
2 Gavin Hinds-Cadette
3 Layne Eadie
4 Sam West
5 Craig Pope
6 Fabion Simms
7Junior Dadson
8 David Cowley - 12
9 Alex Read
10 Leon Antoine
11 Joe Benjamin - 15
12 Syrus Gordon
14 Billy Jones
15 Harry Prince
16 Ryan Melaugh
21 Ronnie Caroll

Attendance: 155
Referee: Michael George
Assistant Referees: Edwin Reid & Ryan Thurbin

Report by Tom Wardle