Thurlow Premier Stowmarket Town 5 FC Clacton 1 Stowmarket Town returned to winning ways with a 5-1 victory against FC Clacton at Greens Meadow, writes Alex Moss.

The Old Gold and Blacks tasted back-to-back defeats last week, as they bowed out of the Suffolk Premier Cup and lost ground on second place in the Thurlow Nunn League Premier Division.

But Rick Andrews’ men bounced back with a comfortable win against Clacton, which saw top goalscorer Josh Mayhew strike twice to move on to 25 goals for the season.

Robbie Sweeney and substitutes Luke Read and Scott Chaplin also found the target, as Stow scored five goals in successive home games at Greens Meadow.

Mayhew had the ball in the net on 24 minutes, but his goal was ruled out for offside by the linesman. Three minutes later it was Sweeney’s turn to come close to an opener, his shot from close range clipping the post.

The breakthrough arrived on 34 minutes, via Sweeney, who finished at the second attempt. Joe Fowler parried Ryan Clark’s cross into Sweeney’s feet, and his shot was blocked by Lee Clowsley, but he tucked away the rebound for his 10th goal of the season.

Mayhew doubled the home side’s lead just two minutes later, with a drilled effort into the bottom corner, before Karl Andrade pulled one back for Clacton moments after the restart. The visitors then struck the crossbar with a long-range effort on the stroke of half time to leave Andrews’ men with a narrow lead and still plenty to think about going into the break.

A three-goal burst midway through the second half put the game out of sight for Clacton, as Read, Mayhew and Chaplin all scored in a 12-minute spell to put the Old Gold and Blacks 5-1 in front.

First, Read diverted Clark’s shot past Fowler on the hour mark to net his first goal since September, and six minutes later Mayhew doubled his tally for the afternoon to hit the 25-goal mark for the campaign.

Chaplin was introduced as Stow’s third and final substitute after Mayhew’s second goal, and he joined in on the act just four minutes later, scoring his eighth goal of the season, but first from off the bench, to make it 5-1.