Thurlow Nunn First Division Whitton United 5 Wisbech St Mary 3 Four goals from Duane Wright helped promotion-chasing Whitton back to winning ways as they eventually saw off a visiting side whose performance belied their lowly league position, writes Dave Meeson.
The first half was an absolute goal-fest and Wright was the first to find the net on nine minutes as he raced onto Stef Mallardo’s through ball before rounding the keeper to finish.
However, the lead lasted less than three minutes as Dale Parnell hit a low angled drive into the bottom corner from the edge of the penalty area to equalise.
Both teams were committed to attack and the home side restored their advantage shortly afterwards with Josh Hitter’s accurate chipped cross being headed home by Mallardo.
Jamie Cole then squared to Wright who made it 3-1 from close range.
Back came Saints and skipper Tom Chilton reduced the deficit by powering home a header after Whitton keeper Ross Welton had missed Jack Friend’s corner.
The hosts then made it 4-2 straight from the kick off with Wright completing his hat-trick with a scuffed effort which trickled over the line after good play from Liam Wales.
There had been six goals in 16 minutes and the excitement died down for a while before Saints’ Dutch striker Enna Kingma bundled his way through to make it 4-3 just before the break.
Wisbech continued to remain a dangerous outfit in the second half and only a last-ditch block from Josh Hubert denied Kingma again.
However, Whitton upped their performance in the latter stages and Cole was denied by two great stops from Saints keeper Joe Simpson before Wright eventually made the game safe with eight minutes of normal times remaining as he rolled the ball into an empty net after Simpson was left stranded after partially denying Cole.
There was still time for substitute Zehnn Young to strike the underside of the bar with an audacious lob from 40 yards as Whitton were finally able to ease home and remain on course for a return to the league’s top flight.
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