The proverbial game of two halves saw Gorleston kick off their Thurlow Nunn Premier Division campaign with a dramatic win at Emerald Park on Tuesday evening.
They snatched victory in second half stoppage time when Connor Ingram pounced on a mistake by keeper Kingsley Barnes.
Gorleston’s first line-up of the season saw two debutants in Connor Deeks and Ismael Fatadjo, with reserve team boss Scott Butler standing in for his brother Ricci.
The Greens began well but began to give away silly free-kicks and from one of them Taurean Molloy called but didn’t make it. Alex Stillinger nodded the ball over the keeper but it bounced back off the post.
Gorleston regrouped and, after 15 minutes, hit the woodwork themselves with a Mitch McKay free- kick.
Max Melanson hit a shot straight at Molloy before Joel Watts had an effort straight at Barnes up the other end. Fatadjo then almost got on the end of a rebound but poked the ball wide.
Gorleston finally found the net three minutes before the break. A corner into the six yard box was headed clear where it was collected by Deeks who drilled it back through a crowd of players and in off the far post.
If the Greens had the edge in the first half then it was Thetford who bossed the second.
The equaliser came in the 54th minute. Bradley Sandell was given far too much space to measure his cross in to the near post where Stillinger arrived unchecked to nod home.
Five minutes later the Greens came close to regaining the lead when Fatadjo’s side foot bounced away off the crossbar.
As the game entered stoppage time it looked as if it would end as a draw, which would have been a fair result. Then Jay Turner, who had replaced McKay to become the third debutant of the night, lifted the ball towards the back post. Barnes looked to have the situation under control but the ball slipped from his grasp and fell nicely for poacher Ingram to tap in the winner from a yard out.
Match sponsor Stuart Low of Bluelight Surveys awarded the Batemans man-of-the-match award to Deeks.
Gorleston: Molloy, Yusuff, Ingram, Goreham, Burrage, Taylor, Fatadjo (Brown 90+2), Deeks, Ingram, McKay (Turner 69), Watts (Stanton 82). Attendance: 129.
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