Following our fantastic win against run away leaders Soham Town Rangers at the Abbey last Wednesday evening, the players were determined to continue our sequence of wins at Aldiss Park on Saturday.

We knew the magnitude of the task though, with our hosts fifth in the league and being under new management. With several former Norwich City players in a starting XI also including two names recognisable to CUFC fans, Shaun Marshall & Cedric Anselin, we faced another tough examination of our recent good form.

The afternoon started perfectly. We talked before the game about their full backs both having a tendency to over commit going forward and we exploited the space vacated by the left back perfectly after five minutes. Rory McAuley won possession and drove forward, Craig Bussens then played a clever reverse pass to Piers Wixon and continued his run into the box, and Piers picked him out with an early pinpoint cross for Bussy to bury in the bottom corner with a cool left footed finish.

The goal was so simple in its creation and execution that it looked like we could score on the counter attack almost at will. However, unlike Wednesday, we failed to give ourselves a solid platform by certain individuals defending poorly and one or two others lacking the discipline to perform their defensive responsibilities without the ball. As a result, with their 4-5-1 system, we were stretched defensively as they switched the play, often caught 2v1 in wide areas and outnumbered 3v2 in the middle of the pitch.

The home side equalised after 15 minutes through a far post volley and took a deserved lead on the half hour after poor defending down our left. Michael Kirby and Jordan Patrick were finding it difficult to cope with the threat on their right flank, while Sam Ives and Calvin Dinsley were struggling to compete with their triangle of central midfielders. We were pressing the ball as individuals and not as a team, so it was easy for them to play round us. When they had good possession in our half we then become too narrow and compact, allowing them to switch the play at will and exasperate our problems in defending 1v1's. The game at times became a battle of whose right flank would cause more damage. We looked dangerous every time Rory or Bussy attacked but Willis and Howell looked just as potent for them.

One of the players who has been instrumental in our run is Brad Hunter, who has added a real presence to our attack, an ability to hold the ball up and a goal threat from crosses. He completed his first 90 minutes of the season in our win at Woodbridge, the first of this current sequence, and has started the next four games in quick succession.

We were thinking of resting him on Saturday as he looked jaded last Wednesday and in hindsight, this would have been the right decision. The mental demands on these youngsters by playing in this league is something that should not be underestimated and is one of the reasons for wanting to compete in this competition. It is also why we find it difficult to string a number of results together early in the season. Our results tend to have a win-lose-win-lose look to them until the group becomes more mature and able to handle the pressures of performing consistently towards the end of the season.

To demonstrate this point, we lost nine of our first 21 matches (gaining 26 points) but have lost just two of our next 13 (taking 27 points). Brad's season only really started in February, so we are asking too much of him to suddenly cope with something it's taken many of the players four or five months to handle. The last eight matches, or at least those played before decisions on pro contracts are made regarding the second years, will be very interesting in seeing how long the current level of consistency can be maintained.

Anyway, Brad's injury after half an hour made such thoughts academic, but the introduction of Adam Marriott improved the team's shape and after the interval he was instrumental in a vastly improved team performance.

At the interval we stressed the importance of playing on the front foot, pressing as a unit from the front and putting them under pressure. Dereham are a much better team going forward than at the back. We also knew that with Bussy causing them so many problems in wide areas, there would also be opportunities to slide balls inside the full backs and expose the lack of mobility of both centre backs. We just needed to be patient in getting the ball into Maz's (Adam Marriott's) feet around the box to work the ball rather than delivering crosses from deep positions that would be fight balls.

Defensively, Maz dropped into the hole to pick up Anselin when out of possession by screening him when they had the ball at the back or getting goalside as they progressed higher up the pitch. When we won possession, he would break off him and find space between the lines. He played the role very effectively and got us back on level terms with a fine equaliser, rifling home a low left footed strike into the bottom corner from 12 yards.

Maz and Bussy continued to torment the home back four and we really played some good football in their half. The catalyst for our dominance though was young Calvin Dinsley, making just his third start of the season in the Ridgeons League following the late first team call up for Sam Cutler. Calvin and Ivesy are probably the youngest looking midfield duo in the history of the league (!) but played like men and not boys. With Maz matching up the numbers in the second half, Calvin was superb. He won tackles, drove us forward, used the ball intelligently and ran the show.

It is pleasing that once again in the closing stages we looked so much stronger than our opponents and the home side were desperately holding on for a point, only offering the odd sporadic foray forward. It should be noted that from one such break Nicky Howell was only denied a replica of his first half goal by a magnificent right handed save from Sam Beagle. At the other end, Bussy rattled the bar, Maz forced the home keeper into constant action, Ivesy shot just wide and we forced a succession of corners and free kicks.

Just as it looked like we would have to settle for a point, Bussy stepped up with another piece of magic. With the full back distracted by a fine run from Piers Wixon, Bussy drove inside, beat the covering player and then lashed a thunderous strike past the stunned Marshall at his near post into the roof of the net. The goal was a right footed version of the Giggs strike past Seaman in the 1999 FA Cup Semi Final but thankfully without the shirt waving celebration! We had demoralised the home team through weight of pressure and in the closing stages, the tempo of our play throughout the 90 minutes took its toll as some of their players simply ran out of legs.

Another three points takes our total to 53 and our league position to eighth - a fantastic achievement when you consider the following. McShane, Coulson, Collins, Hyem, Cutler and Willmott all played in our first league win of the season against Woodbridge Town and we thought this core of the team would be instrumental in achieving a safe points tally. None of them played at Dereham. Instead, we had Calvin Dinsley, Sam Ives, Jordan Patrick, Brad Hunter, Adam Marriott and Zac Costello, all first year scholars, to compliment the strong nucleus of second years.

Jez George

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