RIDGEONS LEAGUE: Thetford Town came back down to earth with a bump last Saturday with their first league defeat of the season against a hardworking Hadleigh United side.

Thetford Town came back down to earth with a bump last Saturday with their first league defeat of the season against a hardworking Hadleigh United side. Despite defeat Thetford more than matched their robust hosts and can argue that a bad refereeing decision cost them the match.

Missing from the Thetford line up was centre half Steve Crawshaw who was at a wedding but welcomed back Simon Mann, Sam Bryant, Kam Senior and Lee Brewer.

In the first half Hadleigh stopped Thetford from playing their normal passing game by working hard to close down space. Thetford had four good chances to take the lead, twice Kam Senior had a chance at the far post after good work by Simon Mann but fired over, Kwame Jones headed over when well placed from a Craig Skipp free kick, and Dave Richards should have done better from a corner by Kam Senior,

Hadleigh took advantage of this when a long ball was misjudged by Dave Richards, Hadleigh's Payne intercepted and slammed the ball home to put the home side into a half time lead.

Thetford started the second half in determined mood and were playing the passing game that has become their forte this season. Simon Mann was once again Hadleigh's tormentor and he weaved an opening for Kwame Jones to notch his third of the season and put Thetford back in the driving seat.

Then disaster struck when Lee Devlin marshalled a long ball by Hadleigh over the line instead of getting a goal kick the lines woman flagged a corner kick. Thetford furious with the decision argued to no avail and from the resulting corner with concentration lost Hadleigh got an undeserved second.

This decision made Thetford lose discipline and Hadleigh were now causing Thetford all sorts of problems with their robust play. Thetford wasted two free kicks from good positions and when Greg Devlin broke free his first touch forced him wide a chance for an equaliser it was pretty evident that their was to be only one winner.

Bruno Silva Everas was brought on for the impressive Dan Jones as Thetford changed formation but their cause was not helped when Simon Mann was pushed into the barriers and knocked unconscious. He was replaced by Ryan Haynes and Greg Mann came on for tiring Craig Skipp, the changes made little difference as Thetford were still incensed about Hadleigh's second goal.

Hadleigh added a third for a flattering score line but Thetford can feel harshly treated for a poor refereeing decision but must learn to keep their discipline and concentration despite adversities.