Thurlow Premier Woodbridge Town 5 Hadleigh United 1 Hadleigh made their second trip of the season to Notcutts Park looking to avenge a 5-1 defeat in the FA Cup tie between the two sides in August, writes Dave Meeson.

However, history repeated itself and although the scoreline was the same as before, Woodbridge were arguably even more dominant and it took some fine stops from visiting keeper Nick Punter to prevent further damage in front of a healthy crowd which numbered just shy of 200.

The hosts opened the scoring on five minutes when Ben Garnham crashed home an unstoppable free-kick after Punter had raced out of his area to bring down Alex Greggor.

The lead was doubled shortly afterwards by Callum Sinclair who benefitted from Kelsey Trotter’s pass to get beyond the Hadleigh defence and finish into the corner.

Punter then saved from Trotter when he was clean through again, before a superb five-man move ended with Ryan Keeble making it 3-0 on 26 minutes.

East Anglian Daily Times: Woodbridge Town celebrate during their 5-1 win over Hadleigh. Picture: PAUL LEECHWoodbridge Town celebrate during their 5-1 win over Hadleigh. Picture: PAUL LEECH (Image: Paul Leech)

A powerful Carlos Edwards drive then seemed to be heading into the top corner only for Punter to produce heroics and somehow push his effort over the bar.

Hadleigh eventually responded with a Kris Rose effort that was deflected wide.

Romario Dunne, who worked tirelessly up front for the Brettsiders with limited support, had two efforts off target at the start of the second period. However, this only led to Woodbridge upping their game to the level of the first half and Keeble slid home his second of the afternoon on the hour following good work from Edwards and Greggor.

Punter then spread himself to deny Baden Holmes a fifth before Dunne’s free-kick was tipped onto the bar by Alfie Stronge in the Peckers goal and Tom Driscoll was first to the loose ball to pull a goal back.

East Anglian Daily Times: Ryan Keeble scores for Woodbridge. Picture: PAUL LEECHRyan Keeble scores for Woodbridge. Picture: PAUL LEECH (Image: Paul Leech)

Dunne had another free-kick shortly afterwards which again struck the bar via the hand of Stronge.

Punter was then called into action once more to deny Sinclair as Woodbridge came again.

The scoring was completed 8 minutes from time after referee Walchester awarded a penalty when Sinclair surged into the area and Garnham, who had a fine game in midfield, sent Punter the wrong way from the spot for number five.

Woodbridge move up to a season’s best eighth in the table, while Hadleigh remain in trouble with only Framlingham and Yarmouth beneath them.