Wroxham too good for Wanderers

JEWSON LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION

Ipswich Wanderers 0 Wroxham 3

WROXHAM could justifiably be tagged the Manchester United of the Jewson League, the former top dogs whose crown has slipped a little in recent times.

Unlike the team that plays at Old Trafford though, the men from the Norfolk Broads have set out their intent to reclaim the title this season and brushed aside Ipswich Wanderers at Humber Doucy Lane on Saturday to stay top of the Premier Division.

In truth, it was over as a contest by the interval with the visitors taking the sting out of the match with a three-goal burst early on, a scoring spree which came too early for some Wroxham fans, who had the double displeasure of getting lost and then arriving to find they'd missed the best of the action.

The front two of Gavin Lemmon and Russell Stock created havoc for the Wanderers defenders, and it was their link-up play and experience in the final third that proved the difference between the sides.

Despite this, the first real chance fell to the hosts, with Keith Hetherington turning in the box to fire low but straight at the keeper.

Neither side had a monopoly on possession or chances at this stage, but that all changed when Stock struck to open the scoring on 14 minutes.

Experienced midfielder Winston Harewood looked favourite to win the ball as the two challenged near the Wanderers box, but the challenge simply deflected the ball into the path of the Wroxham forward, who had time to pick his spot past keeper Jamie Stannard into the bottom left-hand corner.

That knocked the stuffing out of Wanderers, and the visitors began to knock the ball around with confidence, and soon the match was out of reach for the home side.

Three minutes later the ball was moved around on the Wroxham right before being fed into the box where Stock knocked it down to Justin Fox, who steered it home.

With Wanderers on the rack, the ball was being moved around sweetly by the Norfolk side, with Shaun Howes particularly creative down the left, and soon it was 3-0 from the move of the match.

After some slick one-touch passing the ball arrived with Howes on the left edge of the penalty area. His low cross was begging to be tapped home, and Carl Horton obliged.

At that stage it could have become a real rout, but Wanderers carried on battling, and Lee Osborn was booked for a crunching challenge on the Wroxham keeper.

With a three-goal cushion the league leaders took their foot off the pedal a touch in the second half, but Wanderers also played their part in ensuring there were no more goals by tightening up at the back and keeping possession far better.

There was still precious little goal threat though, with strikers Danny Smy and Jamie Baker often falling foul of the Wroxham offside trap.

There was one hairy moment for the visitors when Cameron Matthews crossed and Damian Hilton headed perilously close to his own goal for a corner. Stannard had a mixed second half. He came racing out of his box as Lemmon was bearing down and seemed to catch the Wroxham striker. With the visitors expecting a red card the referee showed a yellow.

He also showed excellent skill to pull off a fantastic one-handed save to stop an effort from Stock that looked all the world a goal.

Wanderers will play worse than this and win this season, but on Saturday the greater experience and cutting edge of Wroxham shone through.

Ipswich Wanderers manager Graham Bickers accepted his team had been taught a footballing lesson by Wroxham on Saturday, but hoped they would learn from the experience, "If there's one thing I'd like my team to take from this match it's that you have to play for the entire 90 minutes, be on your game and concentrate from the start. We weren't and that's the reason we lost," he said.

"The big difference between the two sides was the way they linked up between the midfield and attack, you could see they were used to playing together.

"After the break we tightened up at the back and tried to get our passing going and we did a lot better, but by then they'd already got the goals and could sit back a bit more.

"We wanted to get something from today's game but realistically we have to get our points off teams outside of the top three, and we've already been doing that this season."

Clacton 1 AFC Sudbury 2

AFC Sudbury maintained their unbeaten start to the season with a couple of second-half goals. Clacton started brightly and were enjoying most of the possession during the first 20 minutes, with some neat passing football, but AFC always looked dangerous going forward.

Bailey found Williams, whose shot was blocked by Ben Nower. Terry Rayner went on a good run down the right wing and found Gary Bennett , whose turn and shot went well over the bar. On eight minutes some good work by Tony Spearing on the left released Bennett, whose cross was headed over the bar by Rayner.

A foul on Amara Simba on 12 minutes led to a free-kick on the left, just outside the Sudbury box. An excellent delivery from Aren Howell was met by Simba, whose header flashed into the net to open the scoring.

Sudbury came close to an equaliser on 14 minutes following a free-kick. Andrew Claydon released Ross Taylor, but Darren Gould, who was having a great game, blocked his shot.

Lee Owen battled hard to win back possession and his cross was met by the head of Chris Tracey who placed the ball just over the bar. Sudbury continued to work hard, but were frustrated by a dry pitch and some fine keeping by Gould.

On 49 minutes Paul Betson sold his marker a superb dummy and raced down the left wing to cross perfectly for Bennett to head past Gould for the AFC equaliser.

Rayner s first-time shot flew wide on 59 minutes, before a good Clacton move ended with a corner when Spearing got in a good saving tackle.

Sam Banya replaced Lee Owen on 73 minutes. On 78 minutes another well-placed cross from Betson found Claydon who couldn't get away a shot, but the loose ball was knocked over the line by Taylor for his first Sudbury goal.

It was almost 3-1 a minute later when a Banya cross was met by Bennett whose shot was very well beaten away by Gould.

Mildenhall Town 2 Woodbridge Town 0

IT took Mildenhall 78 minutes to break down Woodbridge's defence after dominating proceedings from an early stage.

Guilty of some blatant misses by both sides somehow the scoreline remained blank. Salmons and Pope for the home side and Crane for the visitors were the guilty parties. But Salmons, who could have had a hat-trick, finally broke the deadlock after being put through by Inman after good work by Pope.

Beating the advancing Wilson with a shot underneath him, he then doubled his tally three minutes before the end with a shot on the run that flew into the corner of the net.

Norwich Utd 1 Bury Town 0

BURY travelled to Norwich United looking to continue their good away run of form.

On a very dusty pitch, early exchanges were fairly even although Norwich were causing problems for Bury down the left flank.

The winning goal though came from the opposite side when the lively Hunton put over a perfect cross for McIntosh to head powerfully home, with the defender struggling to deal with the danger.

Bury struggled to find any real rhythm and were on the receiving end of several strange refereeing decisions with the Norfolk referee being continually influenced by the home players and sections of the home support.

Tatham had probably the best chance for Bury when he found himself one-on-one with Woodcock in the Norwich goal, but on this occasion he made the wrong choice and the keeper saved well. Norwich had a golden opportunity to increase their lead but Mcintosh contrived to smash the ball over the bar from two yards.

With the clock ticking away, Bury brought on Proctor, and Millar moved into attack as they chased for the equaliser, with Eady then moving up for the final minutes. Although they had several half chances near the end, Norwich clung on for their second league win of the season.

JEWSON LEAGUE DIVISION ONE

Haverhill Rovers 3 Downham Town 1

HAVERHILL climbed to ninth place and Downham left with just one point from six league games with the wind proving eventful in the first half and scrappy play almost spoiling the second.

Haverhill took the lead in the 13th minute, a ball forward by captain Miles met by the head of Green to put the ball past goalkeeper Motteram.

Downham equalised in the 28th minute, a ball forward by Hemeter caught in the high wind and Edwards' volley deflecting off goalkeeper Walton and into the path of Williams, who put the rebound into the empty net.

It was 2-1 seven minutes into the second half, Green was brought down for a penalty and substitute King dispatched it, Motteram only able to deflect the ball into the bottom corner.

The final goal came in the 59th minute, a cross by Hunt bundled into the goal by Catten to give Haverhill all three points.

Long Melford 1 Leiston 1

THIS was an evenly-contested game between two evenly-matched sides and on the balance of play a draw was a fair result.

However the Melford side will rue a couple of missed chances at critical moments that might well have produced maximum points. Melford took the lead in the 13th minute when Andy Smith chased a long ball and the Leiston keeper came to the edge of his box to collect it. Norris fumbled the ball and Smith's perseverance was rewarded when he controlled the ensuing loose ball and tapped in to an empty net.

Smith then excelled down the wide left, pulling back to Danny Hill who squared to Mick Stratton enabling him to send in a terrific shot that saw Norris atone for his earlier error, as he made a full-length save.

Leiston had a good spell and were rewarded in the 29th minute when Taylor pivoted and sent in a superb strike from the edge of the box that flew high into the net.

Tony French then had a great chance before the break, running into the box but disappointingly his shot was weakly struck and the keeper saved for a corner.

In the second period, Mark Theobald and Stratton combined to set up Smith, who fired an excellent volley that was superbly saved by the Leiston keeper. Norris was again in action when he made a double save, first from Darren Pratt's header, then Hill's follow-up attempt from the resultant loose ball.

Taylor tested Melford keeper, Jason Haygreen, with a shot that he tipped round the post and a minute later sent in a fierce strike straight at the keeper.

Felixstowe & Walton 2 King's Lynn Reserves 1

THE Seasiders fortunes turned round dramatically on Saturday.

After seeing points lost at home in recent weeks after outplaying the opposition, their fortunes changed in five dramatic second half minutes as they were on their way to snatching a win from a game that looked beyond them at half-time as the energetic and youthful Linnets dominated the first half.

The home side had new signing Shaun Thompson at the heart of the defence and he was needed as early as the 10th minute, clearing Brendling's shot off the line after Charters had parried Childs' initial effort.

The first half play was contained in the Felixstowe & Walton half for long periods and only some wayward finishing from the Lynn forwards denied them turning round with a comfortable lead, with the home side restricted to one clear opening when Robbie Fuller ran through unmarked in the 41st minute but his shot across Mayes was turned away by the Linnets keeper.

Within 50 seconds of the restart King's Lynn were ahead as Charters failed to hold a long-range free-kick from Hunt for Childs to collect the loose ball and square for Thompson to slide into an empty net.

It was from that point the drama unfolded as the Seasiders won a corner and Mayes failed to hold Berry's kick letting in Etti to pounce and stab the ball home within 90 seconds of falling behind. And a further two minutes into the half the home side were in front as Thirkettle made space on the left and floated in a looping cross with Mayes again suspect in the visitors goal for Berry to hook the ball home.

The two goals in as many minutes deflated the visitors and the home side gradually got stronger as the game progressed while the young Lynn side tired – but they might well have had a late equaliser had Redhead not squandered a good opening in the last minute with a wayward shot.

Hadleigh 4 March 3

WHEN Hadleigh conceded two goals inside the opening four minutes an away win looked a formality.

It is to the home team's credit that they hit back strongly to take the lead just before half-time.

George and Wayte gave March a whirlwind start and Hadleigh never opened their account until Smith hit the target in the 37th minute. Then Kieron Donovan scored twice in rapid succession to put Hadleigh in front.

Teenager Donovan completed his hat-trick in the 67th minute by touching home a shot from Rush, but Hutchcraft reduced the deficit to set up a nailbiting last 15 minutes which saw Hadleigh hanging on.

Warboys 0 Whitton United 4

WHITTON had a good day out at Warboys, a team in need of new direction with a management appointment in the offing.

Whitton's young guns playing with confidence on a high bombarded the Warboys goal. Everett ghosted on to Eaton's free-kick to smash an unstoppable shot past the impressive Norbury on 12 minutes.

It was a surprise it took another 29 minutes for the second, Hurd thrashing in a loose ball following a corner.

Two second-half goals by Swann sealed a very one-sided affair as Whitton look to book their passage through to the next round of the Division One cup at home to Felixstowe & Walton on Wednesday with a 5-2 lead.

Soham Town 0 Maldon 1

FORCED to make eight changes due to suspensions and injuries Maldon made the journey to Soham to take the home side's hitherto unbeaten home record with one first-half goal.

Bringing back a keeper from a couple of seasons ago Maldon played John Reeve who had hung up his boots from serious football, and he proved he'd lost none of his skills to back up a resolute and firm Maldon defence.

Taking the game to the home side Maldon forced three corners in the opening minutes only to be denied by home keeper Ben Webster clearing away any danger. For a short spell Soham had the upper hand Andy Chatter shot well wide when in a good position. Reeve did well a few minutes later to cut a high ball out from the same player.

Midway through the first half a classic piece of football saw Maldon ahead when they looked to be getting on top. A perfect through ball from Mark Cranfield found Robbie Reinelt on the edge of the Soham penalty area, Reinelt turned to pick his spot with a great curling shot over Webster placing the ball into the top left-half corner.

Soham pressed hard at the start of the second half but found the Maldon defence very firm with Reeve coming into his own to cut out many a cross from the home side.

Tiptree 1 Great Yarmouth 1

THIS match could certainly have been described as a game of two halves as Tiptree disappointingly threw away two points against 10-man Yarmouth.

The first half was overwhelmingly loaded in Tiptree's favour at times Yarmouth struggled to get out of their own half as the hosts piled on the pressure in search of the opening goal. However a lack of composure in front of goal meant that Yarmouth keeper Nick Banham was rarely tested. The visitors had a man sent off on 35 minutes when Jackson kicked the ball away and picked up a second yellow card for his troubles.

When Tiptree then went on to score just before half time through David Barefield the game looked up for Yarmouth. However the 10 men came out for the second half with renewed energy and within a minute of the restart Howells had struck a shot against the foot of a Tiptree post.

The Norfolk side went on to dominate much of the half and got their just reward when Adcock grabbed an equaliser with 20 minutes to go. Both sides could have won the game in the latter stages but it will naturally be Yarmouth who are far happier with the point gained.

Harwich 2 Fakenham 2

A DRAMATIC second-half come back earned basement club Harwich & Parkeston their first point of the season against a bemused Fakenham side at the Royal Oak. Harwich got off to the worst possible start as the visitors forged ahead with the match only 24 seconds old.

Intense pressure from the Fakenham forward line caused panic in the home side's defence and Paul Reeve appeared to get the final touch that forced the ball into the net.

As the half wore on Harwich began to create chances the best of which came from loan signing Ricky Schaffter whose shot on the turn grazed the bottom of a Fakenham post.

The home side were starting to play with some conviction with Craig Chaplin and Michael Brothers looking particularly impressive, but they were caught cold when after 23 minutes Fakenham increased their lead. A wonderful sweeping move ended with the ball being crossed into the box for Reeve to score his and his side's second.

The second half started with Fakenham trying hard to further extend their lead. Harwich goalkeeper Matty Windred did well to keep out a shot from Reeve.

The balance of the play changed when Harwich pulled a goal back with a Schaffter header following good work from John Kemp. The goal seemed to breath a new lease of life into the Harwich team and they scored an equaliser on 84 minutes.

Once again Kemp was the provider twisting and turning past the visiting defenders before laying the ball off for substitute Trevor Lewis to volley home.

Somersham 1 Needham Market 2

IN A dull first half both sides struggled to get any meaningful play together.

Somersham did have the best of the early exchanges and Matt Jones made a couple of good saves for Needham and he also left his line to gather and beat Osborn to the ball on the edge of the area.

Needham had the ball in the net but Neil Cole had strayed offside. Just prior to the break the home side went ahead when Jones mistimed his kick and was disposed and finally Egan shot home.

But after the break Needham looked far more positive and soon Carl Sandilands was causing problems down the left flank with his controlled and tricky runs. In one he beat his defender and then fed Marc Wake, who shot home the equaliser beyond Gibbs.

Two minutes later Dean Folkard turned on to Stuart Moore's headed pass and shot beyond Gibbs' outstretched arms.

Needham had further chances to put the game well beyond Somersham's reach, but in the end after their recent poor away results Needham Market were pleased to record a deserved victory.

Godmanchester 5 Halstead 0

HALSTEAD were a well beaten side on Saturday.

Keeper Lloyd Pentney had an inspired first half and some of his saves prevented the Jewson new boys running up an unassailable interval lead. Admittedly Halstead had injury problems before and during the game, but Godmanchester were completely dominant early on and forced six corners before the half-hour.

And it was the sixth corner that provided the breakthrough, Nick Hurst hitting the target with a powerful header.

Just after the interval the home side took a grip on the match, Ben Pope wriggling through to score. And they completed the rout with two goals from Howard Kemp and Steve Thompson in as many minutes. Stan Taylor rattled home a fifth.

YOUTH SOCCER

Bedfordshire Under 18 4 Suffolk Under 18 0

SUFFOLK fell away badly after being reduced to 10 men just before the interval in this East Anglian Counties championship match against Bedfordshire at Potton.

Hunn (Bury Town) was dismissed in the 43rd minute for allegedly handling on the line, although it appeared to be Wake (Needham Market) who blocked the shot. Even the Bedfordshire players appealed to the referee that he had dismissed the wrong man before Smith (Barton Rovers) netted the spot-kick.

In the second-half Dan Wright (Barton Rovers) scored twice for the home side and Smith added a fourth.

At the other end goalkeeper Andy Wright (Barton Rovers) made a fine save from a free-kick from Snell (Bury Town) to prevent Suffolk scoring a consolation.