Nine goals in two games for Swaffham Town

Swaffham Town followed up their 5-0 derby thrashing of Downham Town by beating Halstead 4-1 with another good all round performance at Shoemakers Lane.

Having put their opening day defeat at Saffron Walden behind them in such emphatic style in midweek, the Pedlars were on top from the start.

Rory Harper shot wide early on, Alex Vincent shot straight into the keeper’s arms and, after another Harper effort had been deflected for a corner, Michael Thompson volleyed over the bar.

It seemed it wasn’t going to be Swaffham’s day when, against the run of play, Halstead were awarded a penalty five minutes before the interval when David Weaver-Pope brought down their centre-forward. But the penalty was saved by Scott Cruikshank, diving to his right.

The deadlock was finally broken in the 63rd minute, when Richard Cornwall met a corner from Vincent and the resulting scramble resulted in an own goal.

It was 2-0 with 15 minutes to go when Vincent beat the Halstead full-back and shot into the bottom far corner.

The visitors pulled one back two minutes later but, with eight minutes to go, Toby Hilliard claimed his first Swaffham goal and, in added time, Harper at last got his just desserts after good work from Thompson and Jackson.

There was still time for further excitement as Halstead were awarded their second penalty, which Cruikshank again saved.

The Reserves started their season with a 1-1 draw at North Walsham Reserves, Jordan Cantwell scoring.

On Saturday Swaffham travel to Stowmarket (3pm) boosted by the return to the squad of Jack Redhead and Tom Bailey, while the reserves visit Marlingford (2.30pm).

n Joe Jackson grabbed a hat-trick and Alex Vincent scored twice in last week’s 5-0 thrashing of Downham.