Potter is remaining level-headed after Diss’ derby defeat

THURLOW NUNN LEAGUE

FIRST DIVISION

Stowmarket Town 3

Diss Town 0

Ross Potter insists there is no need to panic about his Diss Town side’s prospects this season despite losing 3-0 at rivals Stowmarket Town.

Second-half goals from Ryan Rampley and Ace Howell (two) secured a derby-day victory for Stow on Saturday, which brought an end to Diss’ three match winning run.

But Tangerines boss Potter is not getting too carried away with the result as they prepare to host March Town United tomorrow (3pm).

“I know we’ll come under a fair bit of criticism for losing the derby game,” he said.

“But like I said to the boys, you’ve just got to take it on the chin. We’ve done well until now and we need to get back to training and focus on what we’ve been doing well.

“I learnt a few years ago in management not to get too carried away when you win and not to get too carried away when you lose.

“You just need to be level-headed and go back to the drawing board and get ready for the next game.

“Every game is so different. You can look at today, they played a different formation to any other team we’ve played this season, and I’m sure March will have different things to what Stow had.”

The Tangerines made the short trip to Greens Meadow in good form, with recent wins against Cornard United, King’s Lynn Town Reserves and Braintree Town Reserves positioning them in second in the early Thurlow Nunn League First Division table.

Stowmarket had also enjoyed a strong start to the new campaign, with their 2-0 win at Braintree four days earlier extending their unbeaten run to five games.

It had all the makings of an intriguing early season clash between the two local rivals, but in truth the first-half was a largely uneventful affair with only one meaningful save made by either goalkeeper.

The Stowmarket defence failed to clear the ball and it fell to Shaun Hunsdon, who saw his effort kept out by the knee of Lewis Higgins in the home goal.

Later on in the first-half Sam Bryant and Sam Wenham both saw chances go wide of the target, as the two teams went into the break with nothing to separate them.

Parity would not last for much longer though. Eight minutes into the second-half and the deadlock was broken.

Rampley chased onto a long ball forward from the Stow defence and finished past the advancing George Macrae to put the hosts ahead.

Diss’ rivals never looked back after Rampley’s breakthrough, as substitute Howell struck twice in the final 15 minutes to complete a 3-0 win for Stowmarket.

Potter reflected: “The first-half I thought we shaded it. I thought we had two excellent chances in the first-half.

“We knew it was going to be tight and we needed to take those earlier chances.”

Diss Town: Macrae, Pope, Wenham, Manning, Shadrack, Tipple, Page, Armes, Burroughs (Webb 54), Hunsdon, Bryant (Bray 80). Subs not used: Baxter, Hipperson, Izod.

Referee: J Beal. Attendance: 96.