NE14Hockey East Men’s League

Division 3NE

IPSWICH Cranes notched up a third consecutive victory to maintain their top of the table position.

Thetford were the visiting team in a dour game that will not live too long in either side’s memory but for the home side, it was a professional display resulting in another valuable three points.

The match began at a brisk pace with early possession being dominated by Ipswich Cranes as Thetford struggled to break up the play in midfield.

Ipswich Cranes right half, Nick Tiley-Nunn, controlled the game at times, distributing the ball very effectively with a number of slide-rule passes.

This quickly forced Thetford into defensive errors which led to a series of short corners for the home side.

These were swiftly converted into a two goal lead for Cranes, thanks to two superb strikes from centre half Craig Bloomfield, who narrowly missed out on his hat-trick with another effort which flew narrowly over the crossbar.

With the score at 2-0 and very little threat forthcoming from a less than ambitious Thetford side, Ipswich Cranes took their foot off the gas in the second half, maintaining possession with ease through the midfield trio of man-of-the-match Tiley-Nunn, Bloomfield and Andel Williams.

Importantly, Cranes also succeeded in securing another clean sheet courtesy of a late reflex save from keeper Chris McManus.

A well deserved victory for Cranes made their reputable after-match teas taste even sweeter.

Man of the match: Nick Tiley-Nunn