Gorleston 2 Mildenhall Town 1

Gorleston underlined their improved recent form by dumping league leaders Mildenhall out of the Red Insure League Cup on Tuesday night.

Manager Stuart Larter made three changes to the side that drew at Stanway. Jack Whatmough started in goal, Keegan Middleton was given his first start of the season in place of Gary Williams, and Christy Finch, returning from a loan spell at Wroxham, replaced Bradley Hough with the latter on the bench.

Gorleston started well with Finch looking lively and linking up well with Ally McKenna and Jack Garrod creating problems on the right, writes DAVE HARDY.

Finch saw an early effort go wide as the Greens were on top in the opening quarter of the game, however it was Mildenhall who came closest to scoring. Ryan Clark ran into space on the left before cutting in and curling an effort over Whatmough, but the ball skimmed the bar.

Five minutes into the second period a thumping shot from Hall's Andrew Wood struck the arm of Andy Howell in the area. The referee pointed to the spot and Wood sent Whatmough the wrong way. Shortly after, following a corner, there were loud shouts for a handball in the Mildenhall area but the referee gave nothing.

Jack Marsden, who had replaced the injured Carl Poppy at half time, hit a thunderous shot from 20 yards but it was straight at the keeper.

Gorleston made a double substitution with Bradley Hough and Chris Sandford coming on for David Hinton and Middleton and the Greens began pressing the visitors back.

The equaliser came after 71 minutes as Finch turned well in the box under pressure and managed to get a shot away which keeper Pope tipped onto the bar. The ball fell nicely to Garrod who prodded it home.

Three minutes later some terrific one-touch football through midfield saw McKenna set Reece Hunn through. He was forced wider on to his weaker foot but still got his shot in, which the keeper palmed away. Hunn retrieved the ball and dinked it to the back post. Finch rose but the ball was a fraction too high and the header looped over the bar. With six minutes substitute Hough pounced on a loose ball and drove into the box, slotting the ball past the advancing keeper, into the net off the post. .

Gorleston: Jack Whatmough, Carl Poppy (Jack Marsden 46), Reece Hunn, Zac Clarke, Andy Howell, Josh Armes, Jack Garrod, David Hinton (Chris Sandford 61), Ally McKenna, Christy Finch, Keegan Middleton (Bradley Hough 61)

Bookings: Armes 60; Garrod 89

Goals: Garrod 71; Hough 84

Mildenhall Town: Josh Pope, David Cooper, Darryl Coakley, Paul Jones, Michael Harvey, Dave Werthmann, Kris Thomas, Alex Steed, Ryan Clark, Andrew Wood, James Paterson

Goals: Wood 50 (pen). Attendance 87

Stanway Rovers 2 Gorleston 2

This was an excellent, hard-working team performance from Gorleston which showed plenty of character.

Stewart Larter made three changes to the side that had beaten Woodbridge. Andy Howell returned to replace Eddie Thompson following his departure to Diss, with Josh Armes given a chance to stake his claim to make the number 6 shirt his own. Chris Sandford was unavailable so David Hinton returned and Bradley Hough replaced the injured Liam Harvey-Cooper.

On the bench, there was a promotion for Kevin Gook, who has stepped up from the reserve team to become Larter's assistant following Richard Daniels departure to Diss.

Stanway took the lead after just 69 seconds. Howell was out-muscled on the right allowing a cross which skimmed off Armes' head and fell to Kevin Coyle at the back post to score. Gorleston levelled within four minutes as Hough helped the ball on to Jack Garrod coming in from the right win. He placed his shot past keeper Paul Rutherford into the net.

Gorleston, playing with a bit more directness than usual, took the lead in the 57th minute.

A Clarke header forward found McKenna peeling off the back of his marker. McKenna spotted Rutherford off his line and he hit a superb, dipping volley from 20 yards over the keeper and into the goal.

Two minutes later good work from David Hinton saw his cross fall back to Carl Poppy who fired over.

Midway through the half Hough twisted into the box and appeared to be tugged as he shot but nothing was given. Pride got lucky as his clearance was charged down by a Rovers player and ricocheted wide then a goalmouth scramble saw the Greens throwing bodies in the way before Ryan Taylor shot wide.

In the 74th minute for once Lewis Bentley managed to lose his markers and headed the ball goalwards. The ball struck the underside of the bar and bounced down with Pride clawing it away. The assistant referee correctly signalled that the ball was over the line for the equaliser.

Gorleston: Elliot Pride, Carl Poppy, Reece Hunn (Jack Marsden 74), Zac Clarke, Andy Howell, Josh Armes, Jack Garrod, Gary Williams, Ally McKenna, David Hinton, Bradley Hough (Jamie George 81) Goals: Garrod 6; McKenna 57

Stanway Rovers: Paul Rutherford, Andrew Joslin (Ryan Taylor 65), Jack Cawley, Matthew Cripps, Christopher Ribchester (Martin Calver 89), Ross Norfolk, Adalberto Pinto, Gareth Street (Terry Rymer 65), Lewis Bentley, Lee Townrow, Kevin Coyle

Booking: Pinto 53

Goals: Coyle 2; Bentley 74

Attendance: 53