A late late Jordan Attree goal gave the Yachtsmen victory on a very wet Bank Holiday Monday however the talking point was mainly the performance of the man in the middle with the whistle. In a game that was not overly dirty, referee James Turner issued 10 yellow cards, 1 red card and awarded 2 penalties. The majority of the crowd were astounded by his performance which appeared to take no account of the weather conditions and the wet pitch.

Manager Stewart Larter made 3 changes to his starting line-up from Saturday’s FA Cup victory over Fakenham. In came Andy Howell, Michael Sommerfield and goalscoring hero Jack Garrod. They replaced Jack Guyton, Matty Waters and Nick Davey. Also included in the matchday squad was U21 ‘keeper Kingsley Barnes who by all accounts had an impressive game at Scole on Saturday.

Wroxham again started very quickly off the blocks, going 1-0 up in the third minute of the game. A marvellous weaving run from Jack Garrod down the right resulted in a glorious finish in the bottom left hand corner of the net across ‘keeper Harry Reynolds. The goal was at the end of a counter attack from Wroxham as Soham had the first chance of the game. A cross from Ben Sawyer from the right was headed wide by Dale Archer.

The goal seemed to motivate Soham who had numerous chances to equalise in quick succession. Their first chance can when Robbie Nightingale crossed the ball through the 6 yard box, but Ben Sawyer wasn't able to get on the end of it as the ball ran away on the slippery surface of the pitch. 5 minutes later, Sawyer was again at the thick of things. His freekick from the edge of the box saw a fantastic save from Elliot Pride down to his right, who put it out for a corner.

As the first half went on, Soham were pressing further and further up the pitch which allowed Wroxham to break on the counter attack. David Hinton and Seamus Kelleher linked up well, but were not able to make the attack count. With not much time left remaining in the first half a Hinton free-kick on the left edge of the penalty area was driven in and smashed against a defender. Fortunately for Soham the ball went out for a corner. Two minutes later, a through ball found an on-running Jack Garrod 1 on 1 with Harry Reynolds in the Soham goal but his chip narrowly missed the top corner of the goal and went out for a goal kick.

As the first half was drawing to a close, Soham got back into the game. Simon Swinton got pulled back in the box and went over. The referee gave pointed to the spot. Robbie Nightingale stepped up and slammed the ball in the bottom left corner. Pride went the right way but the power and placement beat him to bring down Yachtsmen’s sails just before half time. Wroxham attacked straight from the kick off, Nathan Stone being brought down in what appeared to be in the area, but the referee decided to only award it as a free-kick. The eventual free-kick being headed away by the Soham defence.

Soham started the half as they had left off in the first. Ryan Sharman shooting from the edge of the box which resulted in another good save from Pride to keep the scores level. Wroxham then went up the other end to put the pressure on Soham, Jack Garrod and Stephen Taylor linking up well before a cross from Taylor was cleared away.

The Yachtsmen pressure eventually took its toll on the Soham defence, Stone, who was winning the aerial battles with the Soham centre-halfs, won a free-kick on the edge of the box. Centre back Michael Sommerfield claimed the ball and smashed his free-kick past the Soham wall and into the far right corner. This showed what Sommerfield can offer going forward and more importantly, putting Wroxham ahead.

Then the major talking point of the game occurred. A short back pass by Stone wasn’t close enough to Elliot Pride but the ‘keeper made a fabulous stop with his feet as Luke Stanley threatened with the ball squirming out for a throw-in. To every single person’s astonishment the referee blew and pointed to the penalty spot for the second time of the afternoon. Even more incredulously James Turner produced a red card for Elliot Pride. Wroxham fortunately had a substitute ‘keeper on the bench and youngster Kingsley Barnes was introduced for Seamus Kelleher. After a delay for the substitution, Nightingale stepped up and slotted home his and Soham’s second penalty of the afternoon. Barnes’ first touch being to collect the ball from the back of his net.

The sending off inspired Wroxham's play as they fought back against their perceived injustices, Soham were chasing around, but couldn't get the ball off the 10 men. Wroxham were making a number of chances despite the disadvantage, Andrew Howell and Jordan King both went close but didn’t really test Harry Reynolds.

As time ran down, Stewart Larter brought on Jack Guyton and Jordan Attree. And for the second time, it proved to be an inspirational decision. With time running down in the 90th minute, Stone was brought down on the half way line to give Wroxham one last chance to get a goal. A long free-kick was misjudged by the Soham defenders who left Attree unmarked at the back post to nod in for the winner and earn a valuable 3 points for the Yachtsmen, Attree’s celebration resulted in Wroxham’s 6th yellow card of the game.

After the game, Manager Stewart Larter reflected on the performance of both his players and the referee. “It was a good win and we dug deep to get something out of the game. We stayed together as a team and reacted well to the sending off.” “We were the better side after the sending off and had more of a cutting edge (than Soham)”. “To get the winner was just the icing on the cake and proved what a good side we are going forward. We have won the last two and today’s reaction to Saturday’s performance (against Fakenham) was excellent”.

On the performance of referee James Turner and his sending off of Elliot Pride. “We have a difference in opinion and have agreed to disagree. The Assistant referee should have been consulted (before he made his decision). It’s not right that we are going to lose Elliot for a time if there is no video evidence. It would be better if people were able to get around a table to discuss these decisions. The FA and Norfolk FA need to look at these situations. Kingsley has come in well though and reacted well to his first task of facing a penalty.”

Attn 106
Referee James Turner