Felixstowe & Walton United 2 Wivenhoe 0 report - Seasiders go nine points clear at top

Thurlow Nunn Premier Felixstowe & Walton United 2 Wivenhoe 0 Felixstowe & Walton moved nine points clear at the top of the Premier Division as they extended their winning start to the season to 11 games, but they were made to work for the points in the second half against battling visitors whose football belied their lowly league position.

Comfortably ahead at the break, the home side looked likely to extend their run of scoring five goals into a fifth game, but Wivenhoe came out for the second period determined to make it tough for their hosts.

They certainly halted the flow of the Seasiders’ game but other than one outstanding save from Danny Crump, lacked the firepower in front of goal against a solid defence to get themselves back into the game.

There was a lively start to the match, with three Wivenhoe players going into the referee’s book in the fifth minute after David Lopez had brought down Jordan Matthews, although the offender wasn’t one of the three involved in the subsequent fracas that saw Mr Sannerude produce his yellow cards.

When the dust had settled, it was the home side who were dominant, with Francis firing into the side netting and Barber missing a glorious chance at the end of a sweeping move before Matthews opened the scoring on 26 minutes at the end of slick build up.

Joe Francis and Scott Chaplin were involved in a flowing move which ended with Stuart Ainsley squaring the ball low and hard into the six-yard box, Matt Grove looked to have collected the ball but then fumbled under pressure from Driver, letting in Matthews to stab the ball into the unguarded net.

It was Matthews who was alert seven minutes later, pouncing on Barker’s weak back pass to round Grove and add his and the home side’s second.

Felixstowe took their foot off the pedal after the break, while Wivenhoe raised their performance to make it a much closer affair than the first half, although Crump was called into action just once, turning Matt Grove’s goal bound effort round the post for a corner 15 minutes from time.