Wroxham’s fantastic first half display wasn’t enough to keep the clinical Fleet from running away with game after smashing in 4 second half goals which meant Wroxham had conceded 10 goals in 2 games writes Tom Wardle.

The Wroxham team saw a number of changes to the players that were involved in the high scoring game midweek. Kingsley Barnes was replaced by Nathan Pauling in goal. Jackson Ramm is suspended so Charlie Norman came in at full back, Seamus Kelleher, Lewis Sturman, Andrew Howell, David Hinton and Jamie Forshaw all retained their places in the team with Nathan Stone, debutant Ashley Jarvis, Jordan King and Ollie Ebbage coming in for Jack Garrod, Danny Beaumont, Matty Waters and Jack Guyton.

Wroxham started very well after their entertaining game mid-week. A back pass from Lewis Clark only just found its way back to Rhys Madden in the Thurrock goal, with Ashley Jarvis closing down. Jamie Forshaw then picked up the ball on the half way line and tried a through ball which would have meant Ashley Jarvis was through on goal, but was the striker was ruled off side. After 5 minutes Thurrock had their first chance, a cross from Remi Sutton was deflected by Ollie Ebbage and luckily found it’s way into Nathan Paulings hands. With 10 minutes on the clock, a 50:50 challenge between Lewis Clark and Ashley Jarvis saw the Thurrock player land horribly and was substituted due to an injury. However Ashley Jarvis was given what seemed to be a very harsh yellow card.

After the short stoppage in play, Lewis Spence turned in the box on the left hand side, and then ferociously smashed the ball against the top of the bar and eventually was cleared from danger by Andy Howell. After 20 minutes the end to end game had calmed down, although David Hinton’s weaving run from his own half ended in a shot narrowly missing the top right hand corner and going out for a Thurrock goal kick. Ashley Jarvis a few minutes later then saw his shot blocked and go out for a corner. The Yachtsmen corner was poor, and from that The Fleet had a chance to counter attack, David Cowley was 1 on 1 with the keeper, but instead of bursting the net, he tried a fancy chip over Nathan Pauling, but failed to keep it on target as it went way over the Wroxham bar.

Around the 30th minute, Thurrock's Charlie Stimson fell over in the box and the referee gave a penalty. All the Wroxham players stood there in disbelief but could not change the decision made as the referee pointed to the spot. Jordan Clark stepped up and smashed the ball in the top right hand corner, sending Nathan Pauling the wrong way to give the home side the advantage. However as half time approached a fabulous teasing free kick on the half way line from Jamie Forshaw was spilled by Rhys Madden and pounced upon by Nathan Stone who smashed it into the Thurrock net to pull Wroxham back level.

Wroxham found themselves in a very good position to give themselves an early advantage after the start of the second half, Another Jamie Forshaw free kick was met again by Nathan Stone but his powerful header was brilliantly saved by Madden. Then only a minute later, Wroxham put the ball in the back of the net, but it was ruled offside. Ashley Jarvis saw his shot saved but it was palmed out straight into the path of Forshaw who tapped it in but the referee's assistant had raised his flag.

Thurrock then started to take control, the ball fell to David Cowley on the edge of the Wroxham penalty box and was curled into the bottom corner of the net to give the home side the advantage only 10 minutes into the second half. 8 minutes later Cowley was again involved; his corner found the head of Michael Toner and looped over Nathan Pauling to make it 3-1. The Yachtsmen looking for a boost then made two substitutions, Nathan Stone and David Hinton were replaced by Matty Waters and Matt Halliday. However they were unable to help stop any more goals going in, because in the 84th minute a spectacular move from Essex side was finished off in the bottom right corner by Ross Wall. Then to increase Wroxham's woes the home side added a 5th goal to their tally after a fantastic run from Remi Sutton was pulled back and finished off by Wall again.

Overall, the score line wasn’t a fair reflection off the match, but the Fleet were much the better side after the break. Wroxham need to be more clinical in front of goal, but the home sided showed why they now lie 2nd in the league table.