An immaculate finish from Tom Winter, who only signed for the Seasiders on Friday, made it a stunning debut for the attacking midfielder, in Felixstowe & Walton’s 4-2 home win over Ely City.
The former Ipswich Town and Leiston man volleyed the home side into a 27th minute lead with a curling shot from the angle of the area. Minutes earlier he had seen an almost identical effort shave the outside of the post.
The home side’s captain, Rhys Barber, added a second, drilling home Scott Chaplin’s corner in the 38th minute.
The Seasiders looked to be moving into cruise control before finding themselves back on level terms as the visitors struck back twice in as many minutes, just before the break.
George Darling latched on to a half-clearance to rifle a low, hard shot through a pack of players into the bottom corner of Danny Crump’s net, from 25 yards.
Then, two minutes later, Ely danger man Kelvin Enaro was upended in the area and Alex Theobold sent his side into the break level as he fired home the resultant penalty.
To Ely’s credit, they came into the game looking for a result, instead of “parking the bus” like many sides have done at the Goldstar this season, and their football in the first half certainly belied their lowly league position.
Harry Reynolds was the busier of the two ‘keepers in an end-to-end first period, pulling off a couple of top class saves to deny the livewire Chaplin, but Crump was also kept busy, being called into action to stop Enaro and Theobold, while Jamie Alsop was unlucky to see his free kick just clear the bar from 25 yards, before Darling’s 41st minute goal.
The home side were glad to hear the half-time whistle, having been pegged back to 2-2, giving them chance to reorganise and, after the break, while the visitors still carried a threat, the home side always looked the more likely to create an opening.
In the end it was Nick Ingram who struck twice late on to secure the points and maintain his goal a game record since joining from Bury Town.
His first and Felixstowe’s third came after he had chased down a long through ball from Chaplin that Reynolds always looked favourite to get to first.
However, the striker got a touch ahead of the keeper at the near post with the ball diverting off Reynolds’ arm and into the goal.
While that was a scrappy finish, there was nothing scruffy about his second as the clock moved into time added-on, the youngster producing a spectacular volley over Reynolds, into the top corner of the net.
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