Felixstowe & Walton United produced a scintillating second-half performance to thrash Ely City 5-1 and re-establish their 12-point lead at the top of the Thurlow Nunn Premier Division table.
It had looked like the Seasiders would spoil their own party in front of a bumper crowd of almost 600 at the Goldstar Ground on national Non-League Day.
They went in at half-time trailing by a seventh minute goal and had looked pretty ordinary against an Ely side willing to chase and battle for every ball.
Whatever was said during the break, the hosts came out rejuvenated for the second half and transformed the game, scoring five times without reply in what was an excellent display in front of their largest-ever league attendance.
The visitors were clearly up for the game from the start, forcing a first minute corner that Tom Williams headed over Danny Crump’s bar.
Their opener came from a sweeping move down the left, Sam Reed crossing low and hard for Alex Theobold to beat Danny Crump from eight yards with an excellent finish.
Felixstowe huffed and puffed without creating any real threat and might have been further behind had Tom Williams and Sam Goodge found the target with a couple of firm headers from Ashley Walker free-kicks.
It was a different game after the break. Nick Ingram drew the sides level with a fine strike from the edge of the area in the 50th minute.
Then Stuart Boardley produced a stunning finish following a half-cleared corner two minutes later to turn the game on its head.
The quick double rocked the visitors and they never regained their composure.
Robins keeper Harry Reynolds clipped Ingram’s ankles in the box and the Seasiders’ striker got up to drill the resultant penalty home and make it 3-1.
The referee then had to deal with a heated exchange that saw him issue three yellow cards that might easily have been red.
A sweeping move started by Callum Bennett on the right ended with Stuart Ainsley volleying the fourth beyond Reynolds from 15 yards.
Miles Powell then capped an excellent 45 minutes with the fifth goal direct from a free-kick on the edge of the area.
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