Soham smash Sudbury for seven

They travelled to Soham yesterday (Saturday) and found themselves on the wrong end of a 7-2 thrashing, a tally which included a hat-trick of penalties by Buster Harradine. His new teammate Luke Stanley also scored three on his debut, after making his name as a prolific scorer for Cambridgeshire League side Linton Granta.

It was 4-0 inside the first half-hour, with each of Harradine’s first two penalties being quickly followed by a goal for the man who was fouled, first Stanley, then Rob Mason. Harradine completed his spot-kick treble on 56 minutes and Stanley made it 6-0 midway through the half. Lee Boyland and Michael Shinn provided some consolation for Sudbury before Stanley completed their misery.

Another hat-trick man was Maldon’s Jamie Guy, now the division’s joint-top scorer with 13 league goals. His tally included two penalties as the leaders, twice behind, maintained their four-point advantage with a 4-2 victory at Tilbury.

There were three outstanding goals in the first 24 minutes, with Gary Henty and Danny Francis on target for the Dockers either side of Guy’s opener. His first penalty levelled it again six minutes before half-time and Joe Gardner put Maldon ahead six minutes after the break. Guy made sure with another spot-kick four minutes from time.

Maldon are the league’s top scorers with 42 goals and second-placed Aveley are on 41 after powering to a 5-0 win at Potters Bar, who started the day only a point behind them. Shane Oakley scored early and late in the first half, going on to complete a hat-trick with a penalty on the hour, just after Petrit Elbi made it 3-0. Jay Leader added the fifth.

Grays remain third, behind Millers on goal difference, after a comfortable 3-0 home win over Thamesmead. A quickfire double by Joe Sweeney and Joao Carlos put Grays two up after 15 minutes and, after they saw off a Thamesmead rally (as pictured above by Tony Fowles, with Thameasmead in green) in the early stages of the second half, Carlos set up the third for Jack West 11 minutes from time.

It was a good day for the top three, with none of the six teams behind them managing a victory. They included Needham Market, who slumped into the bottom half of the table after yet again failing to record their first home win. This time it was Witham who left Bloomfields with the spoils thanks largely to two quick goals early in the second half.

Rob Whitnell put them ahead with a penalty, after Pip Boyland handled, and Emeka Onwubiko made it 2-0. Ollie Fenn gave the Marketmen hope with 20 minutes left but Shamir Mullings responded to complete a 3-1 win for the Essex club.

Heybridge stayed fourth after being held to a 2-2 home draw by Chatham, who took the lead through Matt Newman on the half-hour. Two quick goals at the end of the half, from Michael Cheek and Ben Newson, turned it round but Swifts were unable to build on that and Newman scored again on the hour to earn his side a point.

The fifth hat-trick in the division came from Brentwood’s Alex Read, his third Saturday treble in four weeks. They beat bottom club Ware 4-0 to get back in touch with the pack. Blues are only 18th but have at least three games in hand on every other team in the division, as many as six on some.

Read opened the scoring with a 20th-minute penalty but Ware, four points adrift and still without a win to their credit, held their own until the last 18 minutes, when two more from Read and a late strike by Abs Thompson made it decisive.

Redbridge, in 21st place, suffered their seventh home defeat of the season. It might have been different had Jacob Cleaver not fired a first-half penalty over the bar, but Waltham Abbey made the most of their escape to take the points with a lone goal from Tom Bruno 20 minutes after the interval.

Harlow had also lost six out of seven at home before yesterday, but they managed their second win with three unanswered goals against Ilford, the third of the trio who are now well adrift at the bottom. Piers Wixon scrambled an early goal, Mitchell Das headed the second shortly before half-time and Jeff Hammond, who scored four at Redbridge in midweek, was on target again soon after the restart.

Cheshunt had the better of their game at Wroxham, and took the points with a single goal from Dave Greene eighth minutes after half-time.

Waltham Forest and Romford slogged out a 0-0 draw, a score that was a fair reflection of the uneventful proceedings. Joel Palmer missed a late chance to win it for Forest.