Halstead Town 4, Great Yarmouth Town 1THE Bloaters suffered their first league defeat in 21 games in Essex on Saturday.Games between these two sides this season have certainly been something a little special, with Halstead being on the end of a 6-0 thrashing back in October and only last month Halstead inflicting Yarmouth's only home defeat of the season in the First Division Knock-Out Cup.

Halstead Town 4, Great Yarmouth Town 1

THE Bloaters suffered their first league defeat in 21 games in Essex on Saturday.

Games between these two sides this season have certainly been something a little special, with Halstead being on the end of a 6-0 thrashing back in October and only last month Halstead inflicting Yarmouth's only home defeat of the season in the First Division Knock-Out Cup.

So both sides had already suffered their worst defeat of the season at the hands of one another.

Yarmouth were a man and a goal down within three minutes. Sloppy defending left goalkeeper Michael Hilton exposed and a gaping goal for Ray Turner. He fired straight at Jonny King who handled the ball on the line, resulting in a red card for the right back and a penalty to Halstead which Lee Townrow converted.

The rest of the first half was evenly matched, despite Yarmouth's numerical disadvantage, with Roberts and Magee both coming close with efforts from set pieces.

Roberts was causing chaos in the Halstead defence from corners and Martyn Magee almost scored from a quickly taken 40-yard free-kick which Ed Wooten did well to tip over.

Hilton in the Yarmouth goal also had to be on top form. He continued producing fine saves in the second half, tipping over another effort in the 48th minute and again saving well in the 73rd minute from Terry Raynor, only to see the resulting corner converted by Ray Turner.

Three minutes later the score was threatening to be a heavy one as Chris Beyan added a third.

Magee powered in a 30-yard

free-kick after 82 minutes, giving Yarmouth a glimmer of hope. But this was quickly extinguished as Andy Joslin's speculative low drive deflected to make it four to Halstead.

Manager Paul Tong was full of praise for his players despite the defeat. “It brings to an end our amazing run but I can't fault the lads at all for what we've achieved this season. Some of them under-performed today but for 72 minutes we held them to 1-0 with 10 men.

“You have to go back to August for our last league defeat and hopefully we can carry on and start another great run.”

The Bloaters' tomorrow visit the only team they have yet to face this season in the league, Cornard United.

Tong is without the suspended Steve Best and long-term absentee Adrian Ager, whilst Adam Sewell continues to be sidelined with an injury.

Team at Halstead: M Hilton, J King, O Savage, C Roberts, M Saunders, S Best, M Magee, D Smith, S Roach (J Reed 76), G Norman (S Woodcock 71), L Fell (F Vide 76). Sub not used: J Bell.