Gorleston 0 Woodbridge Town 4: Impressive visitors make it a tough night for Greens

Gorleston made a disappointing return to action on Tuesday evening after two weeks off.

There were two changes from that last outing. Nelson Carinhas was replaced by Danny Camish while Gorleston fielded their seventh keeper of the season as Connor Milligan, who has signed from Wroxham, made his debut.

It wasn’t an ideal debut for the youngster but there wasn’t much more he could have done to stop any of the goals.

Woodbridge scored eight on Saturday, seven of those in the second half, and it took them only eight minutes to find the net again. Gorleston had several chances to get the ball away but failed to clear and it landed at the feet of Jake Rudge who poked it past the keeper.

Gorleston nearly responded straightaway when Danny Camish’s 14th minute inswinging corner bounced away off the top of the bar. However, three minutes later Woodbridge doubled their lead, although it wasn’t without some controversy.

Milligan collected Isaac Burrage’s back header before Ray seemed to elbow the ball out of his grasp. As the keeper scrambled back to grab the ball again, this time it looked like a knee into the goalkeeper’s head which stopped him holding the ball. The referee saw nothing wrong which enabled Ray to hurdle the stricken keeper and tap the ball into an empty net.

After 25 minutes it was three. Rudge ran in front of Kyle Ingram in the penalty area as the ball was running out of play and went down. The referee pointed to the spot and Carlos Edwards gave Milligan no chance and on the stroke of half-time Ryan Keeble made it four.

Gorleston had been totally outplayed. Ex-Ipswich player Edwards, with former Leiston player Kelsey Trotter, had bossed the midfield, with the Greens nowhere near good enough.

A change at half-time saw Camish replaced by Jordan Cantwell, with the Greens switching to a back three to try and gain some sort of foothold in the game and it was better from Gorleston although Woodbridge had taken their foot off the pedal.

Millingan was twice in action in the opening ten minutes of the half, denying first Keeble then Rudge.

The closest Gorleston came was in the 56th minute when Connor Ingram weaved his way in on the left and shot across the keeper but the ball was wide of the far post.

One positive for the Greens was the substitute appearance of Cameron Wing, who looked a tricky, lively young player.

The general consensus amongst supporters during the first half was that Woodbridge were the best side to grace Emerald Park this season and the victory saw them move up the second in the table.

Match sponsors Tecflo awarded the Batemans man-of-the-match to Isaac Burrage.

Gorleston: Milligan, Mackie, Ingram, Goreham, Burrage, Taylor, Camish (Cantwell 46), Lambert, C Ingram (Gilfedder 61), Pinheiro, Watts (Wing 73). Ref: Andrew Gray.