Acle United returned to winning ways with a convincing 5-0 victory against Mattishall on Saturday afternoon.

In Acle’s first meaningful attack after five minutes, a ball played through the centre by Morgan to Forder saw the Acle player brought down by the Mattishall keeper, leaving the referee with no alternative but to award the hosts a penalty, which was duly dispatched by D Foreman.

Two minutes later, Acle had the chance to double their lead, after the referee adjudged the visitors had handled a cross in a scramble, but Jordan Attree saw his effort saved.

It was end-to-end football, with Mattishall going close with S Foreman saving a goalbound shot with the follow-up effort deflected for a corner, whilst Attree headed just wide from a Wiley cross.

Three minutes before the break, Mattishall had a cross deflected for a corner and from the flag-kick Curran cleared an effort off the line, as the hosts went into the break 1-0 ahead.

Just after the restart, the hosts forced a succession of corners. The first saw an Acle shot blocked, then the away keeper tipped an effort over the bar. A quick short third corner saw Curran feed Forder who delightfully curled the ball past the Mattishall keeper and into the far corner to double Acle’s lead.

On 65 minutes, play was held up when confusion reigned with two Mattishall players being shown red cards by the ref. After intervention by the assistant ref, it appeared that the ref had shown the first red card to the wrong player, as only one player left the field to join the Mattishall manager who had been removed earlier for comments made to the official.

Down to 10 men, the game was effectively ended when the visitors conceded an own goal and five minutes later, Attree scored his first for Acle. With 10 minutes remaining, a fine solo run from Peacock saw the Acle wide man ghost past two opponents before chipping the ball over the keeper to give the hosts a 5-0 win.

Acle: S Foreman, Wiley (Stelzer-Hiller), Curran, D Foreman (Smith), Faulkes, Gibbons, Peacock (Sayer), Morgan, Attree, Forder, Sanders.

Tomorrow, Acle travel to Walmer Road looking to avenge a 3-2 home defeat by Kirkley & Pakefield (2.30pm).