Halstead Town 0 Great Yarmouth Town 3

Having suffered defeats the previous week, both teams were subject to changes for an eagerly-awaited top-of-the table clash.

Halstead began the day in second place with the Bloaters fifth. With Oldham unavailable, Daniels came into midfield with skipper Anderson dropping to left back, Ager returned to partner Forbes and Howell reverted to right back .Perfect came back into the starting 11 to replace Turner and Bailey and Turner reverted to the bench along with Roots and McAra.

After the long journey the Bloaters kicked off and immediately Cullumbine was in the action causing problems with his pace.

Not to be outdone Perfect also tested his full back with his trickery and pace. After seven minutes a short free kick by Deeks gave Cullumbine another opportunity to test the full back and his cross caused panic in the home defence and Adie Ager was quickest to pounce to put the Bloaters a goal up.

The hosts still had not settled and a Deeks shot was only just over. The Bloaters were well on top but a series of chances for McAvoy, Deeks and Cullumbine failed to add to the scoreline.

On 20 minutes another McAvoy effort was well saved but the game was end-to-end with the home side getting a grip in midfield and a series of home corners were comfortably dealt with by Hembling.

In the 27th minute Andersen appeared to be hauled down in the penalty area but despite protests the referee waved play-on.

On 33 mins Forbes turned neatly to put Cullumbine in and his shot was inches wide. The hosts continued to play neat football in midfield but once again the Bloaters defence was in defiant mood.

The second half started with the Bloaters on the front foot. Brilliant play between Andersen, Forbes and Perfect nearly brought a second goal.

Then there was a flurry of chances for the Bloaters. Perfect’s shot was cleared off the line and Cullumbine and Deeks had shots saved, one brilliantly tipped over the bar by the home ‘keeper.

A series of corners followed and from one a Forbes goal-bound header was diverted past the ‘keeper by Ager for his and the Bloaters’ second.

The visitors were once again on-top and after another flurry of corners and some good work by Perfect, Deeks found room to curl a superb shot from outside the box, past the stranded keeper and into the top corner to make it 3-0.

The home side made changes in an attempt to claw their way back into the game and some overly-aggressive play caused a fracas between both sets of players which saw Howell carried off to be replaced by McAra.

Perfect, who had a fine game, was also replaced by Roots. After another fracas between the players, after a poor challenge by Daniels, the resultant free kick was just over.

The game had now taken an unfortunate turn for the worse as tempers began to fray. A mazy run through the Bloaters midfield saw the home forward tripped by McAra,who was booked.

The forward then squared up to Ager who stood his ground, only for the home player to theatrically fall to the ground, the result of which saw both Ager and the home striker red-carded much to the astonishment of most of the crowd.

There was still time for Cullumbine to race through on goal to be cynically hacked down, bizarrely resulting in a booking for the Bloaters forward for alleged simulation.

The home side missed a golden chance for a consolation goal but the game as a contest, was over.

The Bloaters had done more than enough to secure all of the points over a team that will fare well this season.