It could be said that Dereham only had themselves to blame for losing at Holt on Saturday. But as it is much more fun blame the umpire.* they all agreed to do that instead.

For this local derby Dereham saw the reintroduction of mahogany David Dickinson lookalike Jacko Jackson to bolster the defence.

A very even game between two equally determined teams of coffin dodgers saw Holt take the lead from a short corner which Simon could only deflect high into the net.

From then on the game flowed up and down side to side and occasionally over the fence and across the road.

The home side definitely had the better of the first half with a clutch of short corners whilst Dereham didn’t manage one. However it was the visitors who equalised just before half time when Ian crossed in the D for Steve to convert.

Honours even at half time

Rumours that a vagrant had wandered on to the pitch and was currently meandering around the midfield were dispelled when it was discovered the strangely clad individual was in fact Paddy Joice who was cutting a dash in an old Dereham top and jogging bottoms which had definitely seen better days, entire ensemble value £2.15.

As the game wore on and the light began to fail Dereham pushed forwards with Jerry managing a shot which rebounded off Holt defender Dutch international Kuhn Van Bernigan’s** foot. In a spirit of brotherly love and fair play the Dutchman admitted the foul, only for the umpire award the hit to Holt. The more he tried to admit the offence the further the hit worked it’s way up the field, until it was taken at the halfway line and Holt subsequently scored the winner.

Despite a late flurry Dereham could not break through and therefore suffered their second defeat of the season.

Having received some flack over the lack of descriptive detail of the second goal scored by president Jerry Reeve last week, this reporter is full of remorse and will this week resolved to make amends by fully describing in intimate detail goals scored by the bandana’d forward.

What a shame then that this week he didn’t score any.

*and more accurately.

**No I don’t know how to spell it

Scorers (league games) This season

Brian Reid                6*

Ian White                  6

Steve Marsh             6

Jerry Reeve              4

Martin Bohn              2

Matt Hawker             2

Les Howlett              1

Robert Mann             1

Shane Barnes          1