Needham Market 0 Blues 4

Leiston made it a perfect six from six as they kept up their 100 percent record in the Ryman League Premier Division with a convincing 4-0 win at local rivals Needham Market writes Alex Moss. Joe Francis scored with two stunning strikes from outside the box before summer signing Matt Blake's neat finish gave the visitors a commanding 3-0 lead after just 25 minutes. The Marketmen enjoyed much more of the possession in the second half but could not find a breakthrough with Leiston completing the scoring through Gareth Heath 10 minutes from time. And Needham's misery was compounded when striker John Sands was shown a straight red card late on for a nasty tackle on Leiston's Seb Dunbar. The two Suffolk sides met at Bloomfields on Bank Holiday Monday looking to extend their impressive starts to the new campaign. Needham had won two and drawn two of their four completed fixtures so far in 2016/17 while Leiston had claimed victory in all of their five League outings. The Blues raced out of the blocks and had several chances to open the scoring before Joe Francis found the target in the ninth minute. Danny Gay touched a Christy Finch header over the crossbar while Michael Brothers cleared another effort off the line as Leiston showed their intent early on in the contest. Joe Francis then broke the deadlock just shy of the 10 minute mark. A free kick near the corner flag was cleared as far as Francis on the edge of the box, who curled an effort into the far corner to put the visitors in front. And eight minutes later the Leiston number 11 was celebrating another goal of similar quality. This time in a more central position, Joe Francis sent the ball into the same corner to double his sides lead. Leiston went further ahead on 25 minutes after Joe Whight missed his attempted clearance and Matt Blake sent the loose ball past Gay to make it 3-0. Needham themselves had chances between the Leiston goals with Reece Dobson dragging a shot just wide before heading Jake Dye's cross into the hands of visiting goalkeeper Nick Eyre. Christy Finch struck the home crossbar seconds after the third goal with Needham switching formation to a 3-4-3 and bringing on Sam Nunn and Ollie Fenn either side of half time to try and turn the game around. The Marketmen were much improved aftert the break but found clear cut chances hard to come by and on 80 minutes Leiston scored a fourth. Seb Dunbar's cross from the left found Gareth Heath at the far post who fired the ball into the roof of the net to put the Blues 4-0 up. In the final minutes the home side were reduced to 10 men after former Leiston striker John Sands rash tackle on Seb Dunbar saw the Referee produce a red card.

FT - Needham Market 0 Blues 4

Needham Market - Gay, Dye, Coakley, Morphew (Nunn 35 mins), Miller, Whight, Ingram, Izzet (Osei 70 mins), M. Brothers, Sands, Dobson (Fenn 45 mins). Subs not used - Clark and Curtis.

Blues - Eyre, Brown, Dunbar, Ainsley, Jefford (Hastings 82 mins), Bullard, Lawrence (P. Brothers 79 mins), Heath, Blake, Finch, Francis (Ottley-Gooch 77 mins). Subs not used - Saker and Winter.

Referee - Mr T Hancock

Man of the Match - Byron Lawrence

Attendance - 573