Leiston boss Steve Ball admitted that his side could learn a thing or two off a resolute and determined Lowestoft Town side who came away with all three points courtesy of Jake Reed’s 15th minute strike.

Pre-match, the Blues of Leiston were flying high having won their last four games, scoring an impressive 19 goals in this period.

However, Lowestoft proved that they’re not chasing the play-off positions for nothing as they put in a strong performance to gain victory and bring a previously buoyant Leiston back down to earth with a bang.

“Credit to Lowestoft, they’ve come and I think given us not a lesson as such but just a real disciplined way to play the game,” said Ball.

“I thought our decision-making in the first half on a difficult surface wasn’t great. We were trying neat intricate passing on a really difficult pitch – and we never really got that going.”

With that in mind, Ball decided to shake things up at the break, partnering Leon Ottley-Gooch and Ryan Crisp together up front and this nearly paid dividends as the Blues arguably deserved a point for their second-half efforts with Ottley-Gooch guilty of a bad miss right at the death.

“Goochy won’t have a better chance all season and that was the moment for us but I’m not going to start lambasting the lads because they’ve all been terrific since I’ve came to the club,” said Ball.

“On another day did we deserve a draw?

“Maybe on our second-half showing but all in all it was a bit of a flat game.”