Brantham Athletic 3 Gorleston 0

Gorleston stuttered to a disappointing Thurlow Nunn Premier Division defeat in difficult conditions.

There were two changes from the side that had made Vase progress the week before with Cain Eagleton and Joel Watts replaced by Luke Goreham and Hayden Ingram.

Brantham came into the game on the back of three straight defeats with an aggregate score of 0-10.

If the home side were lacking in confidence they were boosted in the third minute when the Greens gifted an opening goal.

A misplaced pass out of defence as Gorleston failed to clear set Simon Mann in on goal and he easily slotted past the advancing George MacRae.

The Greens responded with Hayden Ingram latching on to a Peter Lambert chest down but his shot was off target before Harry Mann fired over at the other end.

Despite having the majority of possession Gorleston were finding it difficult to get their game going with the sticky, bubbly pitch making it difficult to string any passes together and Brantham adapted to the conditions the better.

Lambert was having a rare old tussle with centre-back Matthew Stace and there was one ball into the box where the defender clearly shoved Lambert to the ground.

The ref gave nothing then and although the linesman flagged it was only to give an easy offside decision against Kyle Ingram.

Half-time arrived with manager Ricci Butler wondering if his team thought it had been a 4pm kick-off and Branthan looking like they had a bit more fight in them to hold on.

Gorleston began the second half looking more like they meant business with Chris Sandford picking up a Kyle Ingram pass but shooting straight into the keeper’s midriff.

But, before the hour mark, the hosts had doubled their lead. Full-back Matthew Travis burst forward and slid the ball wide to Sean Gunn.

MacRae went out to him even though defenders looked to be getting back and, from a narrow angle towards the edge of the box, Gunn fired goalwards and the ball limped over the line just inside the post.

A superb corner from Keegan Middleton flashed across the face of goal with Gorleston throwing bodies at the ball but nobody could get the final touch.

Brantham then broke from a Gorleston free-kick. A great turn by Gunn saw him shoot by a flying MacRae saved. MacRae was up quickly to kick away the follow up effort. Brantham were on top now with Gorleston missing the quality in the final third to break down a well organised defence and the hosts pace was causing problems.

Gorleston had to push on to try and get back into it and as a result were caught on the break as the game entered injury time. Gunn’s shot was saved by MacRae but the ball fell nicely to Sean Bartlett for a simple tap in.

Tomorrow the Greens host 15th-placed Ipswich Wanderers at Emerald Park (3pm kick-off).