Gorleston 5, Bury II 0After a bitterly disappointing two weeks the club bounced back to beat fourth-placed Bury II comprehensively in Division Three North East of the NE14 East Men's League on Saturday at Cliff Park Community Pitch.

Gorleston 5, Bury II 0

After a bitterly disappointing two weeks the club bounced back to beat fourth-placed Bury II comprehensively in Division Three North East of the NE14 East Men's League on Saturday at Cliff Park Community Pitch.

Previously, Gorleston had lost their two derby games with Lowestoft and league leaders Harleston III and, following an enquiry, were disqualified from further progress in the national HA Vase competition for fielding an ineligible player in their third round match against Newbury and Thatcham last November

Facing the side who had beaten them 5-1 at Bury last October, and with Peter Jones Adam Stone and Jason Austin sidelined through injury and Nick and Johnny Mobbs away on a skiing trip, Gorleston were down to their minimum squad of players.

They must have feared the worst, but the reshuffled defence of Mark Vaudin and Andrew Lilly in front of a dominant Barney King in goal stood firm in the face of the visitors' best moves. And as the game went on resistance simply melted away, giving the midfield trio of Kevin MacDonald, Martyn Vaudin and Jamie Higginbotham plenty of time to move forward to support a forward line who were having one of their best games for a long while.

In recent matches an early goal has proved decisive in boosting morale, and this time it was Jamie Higginbotham who raised the home side's spirits.

After only three minutes he drifted down the right and into the Bury D before neatly lifting the ball over the advancing keeper.

But that was as far as scoring went in the first half even though some robust defensive tackling was resulting in plenty of penalties in the visitors' 25, none of which could be turned to advantage.

The second half was a completely different story. With Simon Long, Monty Raymond and Russ Crawford combining well with Malcolm Berry, the Bury defence dropped even further back and suddenly short corners were being given away in desperation.

The first after three minutes was powerfully struck by Jamie Higginbotham but there was Monty Raymond on the keeper's pads to

slip the rebound back into the net before he could recover.

Four minutes later and it was Martyn Vaudin's turn to celebrate as another short-corner routine beat the defensive cover all ends up.

And the hat-trick of penalties was completed after 16 minutes when

Monty Raymond again was on hand to score - this time deflecting home Jamie's deliberately wide shot to the right of goal.

Four goals to the good Bury never gave up trying but by now Gorleston were on song and their team confidence unstoppable. And so it was left to Simon Long on 25 minutes, playing his last game for the club this season before a three-month stay in New Zealand, to dart typically through several tackles and seal the game emphatically.

Man of the Match: Difficult to single out anyone in particular but on his 31st birthday and for giving the side such a perfect start it has to be Jamie Higginbotham.

Next, Gorleston have a difficult game away to Ipswich IV. Push-back is at 11.30am and transport leaves the Albion at 9.30am.

Gorleston won their early season encounter, but Ipswich are last year's champions and will be all out to take revenge with their home tie advantage.