Newmarket Town have plenty to play for in 2025 after winning eighth game in a row
The new year is shaping up to be an ‘exciting’ period for Newmarket Town.
The Jockeys signed off from 2024 on Sunday with a thumping 5-1 home win at the expense of Thetford Town.
It was Newmarket’s eighth victory in a row in all competitions, during which time they have found the back of the net on 27 occasions.
They sit third in the Eastern Region Women's Football League Division One North standings, 11 points adrift of table-topping Harpenden Town with two games in hand.
And Kevin Parsons’ side also remain in two cup competitions, giving them plenty to play for during the second half of the campaign.
Parsons said: “Before Sunday’s game we spoke about standards and said that if we kept them high then we’d have a good chance of winning the game.
“We did the basics right and then our quality allowed us to go and get the result.
“With the run that we’ve been on and what’s to come, we’ve got lots to look forward to next year.
“We’ve got games in hand in the league, we’ve got the two cup games as well so it’s an exciting time for the whole squad.
“As a player you want to win things so we’ll see where the second half of the season takes us.”
Parsons believes that the ongoing sequence of positive results has been aided by the strength in depth within the female section at the club.
While his team have been busy chalking up the victories, the development side recently advanced through to a cup semi-final and the under-18s are unbeaten.
He added: “We’ve had good consistency in terms of player availability, but at the weekend we were missing a couple and the players that came in did really well.
“We’ve got good depth across the set-up with 54 players signed on from the first team to the under-18s.
“We’ve got tough competition throughout the three teams and that means when we need a player from the development side or under-18s, they’re ready to step up.
“We all work closely together and it’s going really well at the moment.”
Holly Corley, Millie Docking, Bethany Seymour, Katie Spiers and an own goal did the damage at the weekend for Newmarket, who will be back in action on January 5 at home against fifth-placed Real Bedford Reserves.
The second string have gone into the Christmas break with three wins from their last four games.
Jockeys dealt late sucker punch at home
A stoppage-time goal condemned Newmarket Town to a third straight Pitching In Isthmian League North Division defeat on Saturday.
It appeared that the Jockeys had done enough to earn themselves a point against visiting Brentwood Town at the Tristel Stadium.
However, deep into time added on the promotion-chasing away side supplied a sucker punch to leave second-from-bottom Newmarket five points from safety after a 2-1 loss.
Brentwood opened the scoring in the 32nd minute when Andrew Freeman’s long ball caught out the Newmarket defence and Daniel Ogunleye strode through to slot in his 20th goal of the campaign.
Newmarket then drew level with 16 minutes remaining when Oscar Dean converted from the penalty spot after Ryan Cole had been upended by Brentwood captain Matt Cripps.
But a hard-earned share of the spoils went begging in the third minute of injury time as substitute Connor Hogan got goal-side of the Newmarket defenders and then showed good composure to score past James Young.
Newmarket, who have won just one of their last 11 games in all competitions, will travel to the side directly above them – Haringey Borough – on Saturday (3pm).
Borough have one more point than Newmarket after their 3-1 loss to Witham Town at the weekend.