Witham Town 1 Leiston 1

The Blues made the short trip along the A12 to face a Witham Town side, newly promoted and unbeaten to date. In pretty poor conditions weather wise, plus an average playing surface, it made good passing football hard at times for the away side. Leiston made three changes and brought in Michael Brothers, Patrick Brothers and Cliff Akurang with Tom Winter, Stuart Boardley and Leon Ottley-Gooch making way and taking their places on the bench. There was still no Scott Mitchell who is still out injured. The first half belonged to the visitor’s chances wise but Witham created the first chance of note and Josh Mayhew should have done better but his shot went wide of Danny Gay’s left upright. Apart from a few long balls to deal with the visiting defence had a pretty quiet first half. Craig Parker had a volley that was pushed over the bar by home captain Martyn Guest in the Witham goal and from the resultant corner Joe Jefford’s header hit the top of the crossbar. The rain continued to fall making conditions tricky under foot but also helped add a zip to the surface. Michael Brothers got inside his man a few minutes later only for his effort to be straight at the Martyn Guest. Leiston won a lot of fouls at the end of the first half around the penalty area but the Witham defence held firm and the teams went in with no goals scored at the end of the half.

At the start of the second half Leiston had a couple of half chances and looked comfortable and just before the hour took the lead. Witham gave away a foul just inside their own half and the delivery into the box was handled by Ryan Blackman. Gareth Heath stepped up looking for his sixth goal in as many games but his spot kick struck the post but Cliff Akurang pounced to expertly smash the ball into the bottom right hand corner. Witham thought the ball had hit Heath from the rebound but Referee Holmes allowed the goal despite the protests from the home bench. But the visitor's couldn’t build on their opening goal and the home side responded strongly and began putting pressure on the visitor's with more crosses into the Leiston box. Just nine minutes after the opening goal Witham levelled. A good ball across the box was met by a well hit shot that Danny Gay made a smart stop but the ball fell to substitute Kurt Smith, who had only been on the field for a few minutes, to fire home. Leiston made three substitutions in the second half with Leon Ottley-Gooch, Tom Winter and a return for Jack Simmons coming on for Cliff Akurang, Michael Brothers and Joe Francis. The game was evenly poised with Witham growing stronger and the home side almost took the lead but the woodwork came to Leiston’s rescue. In response Craig Parker headed an effort wide from a corner. The visitors ended the game with ten men after Tom Bullard limped off for the final ten minutes but no further action in either goal mouth saw both sides share the spoils. A draw was a fair reflection of the game with Leiston shading the first half and Witham the second. Even though Witham had a lot of possession late on, Danny Gay didn’t really have a save of note to make.

FT – Witham Town 1 Leiston 1

Blues line up - Gay, Saker, P Brothers, Tann, Bullard, Jefford, M Brothers (Simmons 66 mins), Heath, Akurang (Winter 75 mins), Parker, Francis (Ottley-Gooch 72 mins). Unused Subs: - Boardley and Rossis.

Goals - Akurang 59 mins (Leiston), Smith 68 mins (Witham Town)

Yellow cards – Akurang (Leiston), Blackman, King, Townrow & Wraight (Witham Town)

Man of the Match – Blake Saker

Attendance - 142