A disastrous opening 15 minutes dashed Felixstowe & Walton United’s hopes of claiming their first Thurlow Nunn Premier Division points of the season last night.

Slow out of the blocks, the Seasiders found themselves 3-0 down after just 15 minutes to lively Suffolk visitors Kirkley & Pakefield, who looked like scoring every time they went forward in the first period.

Captain Ross King, centre-half Daniel Tacon and the outstanding Kyle Baker capitalised on some horrific defending to net with ease, and stun the Goldstar Ground into silence.

It’s been somewhat of a frustrating start for Kevin O’Donnell’s men thus far this league campaign as, after a heavy opening day 4-1 home defeat to Norwich United, they saw their following game at Brantham Athletic abandoned due to floodlight failure in the 52nd minute while leading 2-0.

And their frustration was clear to see as it took the visitors just two minutes to open their account as, after Felixstowe were caught overplaying at the back, Gary Williams’ driven cross was thumped home by the grateful King.

Just four minutes later, Kirkley doubled their advantage as giant centre-half Tacon nestled in a textbook volley from the aftermath of a corner – with the Seasiders’ back-line again at sixes and sevens.

Harrying a tired-looking Felixstowe side, who travelled to east London in the FA Cup on Sunday, high up the pitch, the visitors sensed more blood and continued to break with pace and numbers – which was very much the formula in question for the third goal after 15 minutes.

After the Seasiders failed to deal with a harmless-looking long ball, tricky winger Baker glided and danced his way through a number of inept challenges to eventually fire into the empty net.

It was a goal nothing short of genius from Kirkley and Baker’s point of view, but one nothing short of shambolic from Felixstowe.

Danny Bloomfield fired a goal back for the Seasiders in the 17th minute, and the hosts did improve after the break, but the damage had already been done as they slumped to a disappointing defeat with Ross Gilfedder adding the gloss on a fine Kirkley performance in the 87th minute with a solo turn and finish inside the six-yard box.

Seasiders: Stannard, Ross (West), Ainsley, Driver (Clark), R.Barber, Davis, Dew, B.Barber, Bloomfield, Cranfield, Powell. Unused subs: Hewitt, Birchfield, D.Crump.

Kirkley & Pakefield: Rogers, Grintt, Brown, Williams, Herbert, D. Tacon, Hunter, Godbold (Lopez), Haverson (Gilfedder), King, Baker (Meeken). Unused subs: M. Tacon, Hammond.