North Walsham 1 suffered a rare defeat in a thus far successful season, to a Sudbury side battling in the lower reaches of the league.  North Walsham were weakened by the unavailability of a number of key players but were boosted by the return of Dale in defence following a broken wrist sustained in a game before Christmas. Armstrong made a rare appearance for the first team in returning to the scene of his previous season’s goal scoring triumph.

Neither side started the game with any fluency and passing moves were rare.  North Walsham created a couple of half chances as the Sudbury defence looked shaky in their own area and struggled to deal with the lofted ball from Spencer. However the home side extracted full reward from the best move of the opening period as their young left winger sprinted through a leaden footed North Walsham defence to finish clinically with a first time strike that left Bartram with no chance in the North Walsham goal.

Sudbury’s goal proved a short term wake up call to North Walsham who created more sustained pressure matched by occasional incursions from Sudbury into the visitors half.  This pressure was rewarded with goals from the reliable West and a rare strike from Lunn, who opened his account for the season following up his own strike to finish with a rebounded effort.  As North Walsham’s bare eleven looked towards half time and Amey’s movement was severely constraint by the recurrence of an injury suffered in an earlier game, Sudbury drew level with a shot through the legs of Bartram.  Spencer, West and captain Green attempted to provide drive and inspiration during the half time team talk but after the restart North Walsham continued to lack conviction in their play.

Sudbury surged through the midfield and were rewarded with two goals, the first a disappointing short corner strike and a disputed second after a goal line melee that ended with a Sudbury stick striking the defending Younger in the throat as the ball crossed the line.  Despite valid protests from Walsham and a long discussion between the umpires the goal was ultimately awarded.

In the period following the restart Cox was fortunate to escape with only a green card after controlling the ball with a high stick and showing dissent to the umpire in the aftermath.  Shortly afterwards there were protests from Sudbury as their defender was yellow carded for a more blatant high stick in stopping a ball on the edge of their area.  As ten man Sudbury defended deeper North Walsham looked to attack a find the goal that would bring them back into the game.  Green went close with a fine run and cross shot from the angle that thudded against the post before rebounding away from the goal.  West drew a spectacular save from the Sudbury keeper that was enjoyed by the watching Sudbury crowd.  As the clock ticked down North Walsham continued to apply pressure and felt they had a good shout for a penalty flick as West appeared to be wrestled back by the defender as he attempted to reach a ball that had rebounded a short distance from the Sudbury keeper.  The exertions of the game told on North Walsham as Sudbury were restored to eleven and ran the clock down to record a welcome victory.  The hard running Nickerson in midfield had a fine performance for Walsham and appears rejuvenated following his antipodean adventure, while Armstrong once again stepped up effectively when asked to assist on a long away trip.