Saturday 2 November : Ridgeons League First Division

With the loss of manager Ronnie Mauge, Whitton were determined to impress their new man in charge ex Ipswich Town player Gary Thompson.

Walden were quick to take advantage of a defensive error when Chadwick cut inside his marker to set Collins free to shoot wide of the post. Whitton replied with an Inglis through ball to Crane whose pace caught the Walden defence on the back foot to curl in a shot past Lewis in the Bloods goal.1-0 (6minutes)

Walden pushed for the equaliser but were continually thwarted by some tough tackling from the United defence. With the referee choosing to ignore his linesmen and some over the top tackles by the Whitton rearguard the visitors physio was called onto the pitch no fewer than 8 times in the first quarter of an hour.

Then bizarrely the referee warned the Walden physio to hurry up as he spent too long treating the injured players -  never mind any thought of the safety or health of the injured players.

The Bloods continued to play their passing game and on the 17^thminute Chadwick jinked round two defenders to set up new signing Stokes to volley in the equaliser1-1 (7 minutes).

From the restart a long clearance out of defence found Stokes, who shrugged of a high tackle and passed to Collins to shoot into the net. But to the dismay of the Walden fans he was deemed offside. (18 minutes).

The game deteriorated with Whitton continually going through the tackle to leave the Walden Physio on and off the pitch every few minutes. A free kick by Strong found Riches unmarked who proceeded to avoid a high tackle but shot into the arms of Moyes in the United goal.

Whitton’s pace on the break caught the Bloods napping and Crane was quick to take advantage to fire in his second goal.  2-1 (36 minutes). From the restart a clearance from Inglis found Williams whose shot deflected off a defender past Lewis in the Walden goal 3-1.(37minutes).

Minutes before half time the Bloods were awarded a penalty, Stokes stepped up to take the shot but was surprisingly carded for not placing the ball in the centre of the spot!  Meanwhile the far linesman was flagging the ref to inform him that the penalty could not be taken while the Whitton substitutes were gathered behind the goal to distract the penalty taker!

Eventually after the players were removed to the sidelines, Moyes dived the right way to save Stokes fierce penalty shot to deny Walden a goal.

The second half continued at a hectic pace with neither side making inroads into the goalmouth. On the 70th minute the United manager was sent from the dugout for foul and abusive language towards the referee.

Mills won the ball in midfield and crossed onto the head of Wright who aimed into the grateful arms of Lewis in the Bloods goal. Substitute Clarke - on for the injured Danbury - fired in a shot that Moyes at full stretch tipped round the post.

With a quarter of an hour left Bell came on for the injured Strong but was immediately upended by the Whitton defender. Bell’s fierce free kick was well stopped by Moyes and from the clearance a well worked move down the wing by Barker and Chadwick saw Chadwick’s shot hit the post. 3-1. (90 minutes)

The Bloods management were not impressed by the performance of the referee - who booked players for dissent rather than for the over enthusiastic tackles that will result in three of Walden’s players needing to take time off work to recover from some serious injuries.

Team : E.Lewis. M.Barker, R.Cannon, A.Riches, M.Danbury (M.Clarke), P.Flack. Z.Collins (D.Badcock), S.Kingham, P.Stokes, G.Strong (S.Bell), R.Chadwick.

Subs not used K.Vallis. D.Pledger.

Next matches are away to Godmanchester on Wednesday 7^th November, at Diss Town on Saturday 10^th November with a trip to Long Melford on the 13^th November. Next home match for Walden is against Fakenham on the 17^th November.