Martham 3 Easton 4

A cold and wet November day greeted us as we made the trip to the coast to play 2nd placed Martham today. After almost three weeks without a game it was just nice to have a football match to plan for and with Brad being the only one missing from last weeks call off v Horsford we were able to go with a full 14 as Wheeler returned after missing the Wells game thorough injury.

Martham has never been a particularly happy hunting ground for us but for once the wind wasn't too bad and despite the overnight rain the pitch looked in decent condition early on. Martham kicked us off and in the first ten minutes or so it was evident that we hadn't played for nearly 3 weeks. Passes were going astray or being left short by both sides and there was no real quality from either set of players in the opening exchanges.

With a quarter of an hour gone Morgs took it upon himself to make something happen as he picked up the ball in our half and drove past 4 Martham players before finding himself 1 v 1 with the keeper who not for the last time today pulled off a superb save to keep it 0-0. Nothing was to come from the resulting corner but after forcing another one Lewi headed Beanie's corner back across goal and Al headed home via a deflection to make it 1-0.

With me stood there thinking this could be a platform to build on it turns out I could't have been more as we had a mad 15 minute spell that gave Martham a way back into the game. Firstly Baz had to be alert to make two absolutely stunning saves to keep his clean sheet in tact but after the second one the corner that followed was headed out of his grasp and to everyones surprise the referee awarded the goal despite almost all in attendance saying the ball had not crossed the line.

There was then a tussle between Raffa and the home sides centre half which resulted in a nasty looking head butt from the home player leaving Raffa bleeding heavily from his nose but this time the official had missed the offence and Raffa was withdrawn. Moments later a hopeful ball from the back was played back to Baz by Aggy but the ball stuck in the turf and allowed the home player to nip in and score to turn the game on it's head with 30 mins played.

Martham now had their tails up as we looked for a way back into the game. Morgs was clipped on the edge of the box and the resulting free kick found the back of the net but the man in the middle again intervened and wanted the wall back another yard...... The resulting retake struck the outside of the post as it looked like we would go in at half time 2-1 down. With the half dying out however a superb pass from Morgs found George on the corner of the area and his superb left foot effort cleared the keeper to make it 2-2.

HT 2-2

The start of the second half was a polar opposite to the first as we went out in search of the lead again. Beanie drew another great save from the home keeper before minutes later picking up the ball in central midfield and after driving forward his perfect ball through to Jahi saw the Easton man commit a defender before calmly slotting through the keepers legs to make it 3-2.

Within 5 minutes we then had a two goal cushion as Lewi found Wheeler with a pinpoint cross and Wheeler made no mistake as he smashed the ball past the helpless keeper with his left foot to make it 4-2 and the home side were starting to look like they were running out of steam a bit. Wheeler again drew a superb stop from the home keeper when well placed and Lewi was hauled to the floor at a set piece but the official didn't have a good enough view.

There was then a nasty incident as a Martham defender slid in and saw Wheeler tumble on top of him leaving a nasty gash on the defenders head and an ambulance ride to hospital with a suspected concussion. Our best wishes to him. With the game ebbing away an ambitious effort from 20 yards saw the ball swerve past Baz in the Easton goal to set up a nervous finish. It was actually George who had the best chance to add to the scoring late on though as he saw another effort hit the post after being played through by Hayden.

FT 3-4

A good win at a tough ground in tough conditions.