Lowestoft Town 1-2 Leiston - Match Report

Leiston defeated Lowestoft Town on their own patch for the second year on the bounce as they won 2-1 to move up to 9th place in the league table.

Stuart Boardley named an unchanged side for the match, with Ashley Nicholls coming into the squad at the expense of Harrison Bacon. Joe Jefford was making his 400th club appearance for the Blues.

Shaun Bammant had an early cross that went just over Marcus Garnham’s crossbar before Adam Smith’s free kick wasn’t dealt with at first by Leiston but Noel Aitkens slid in to put the ball out for a corner. From the resultant delivery, Connor Deeks headed straight at Marcus Garnham. Joe Jefford headed wide for Leiston’s first chance, but it was the Trawlerboys who were playing better at this stage. Leiston dealt with some more aerial balls into the box. Marcus Garnham set Patrick Brothers away who set off on a good run and then sent a diagonal pass to Matt Blake. He glided past a home defender but Elvis Putnins held on to his shot easily. Lowestoft then took the lead in the 23rd minute. After Leiston failed to clear a ball at the back, Shaun Bammant capitalised to curl a shot out of the reach of Marcus Garnham. This kicked Leiston into life. Lowestoft in fact had to make a sub a couple of minutes after scoring, with Cion Wren replacing Kieron Higgs. Patrick Brothers had a decent run down the left hand side to cross to Matt Blake but couldn’t convert his cross. Matt Blake got through on goal moments later but his strike was straight at Putnins. Leiston did level when Putnins punched away Kyle Hammond’s free kick in the 37th minute but it deflected into the path of Jake Reed who levelled the scores. Blake guided the ball just past Putnins’ left hand post as half time approached and he had another chance but Armani Schaar brilliantly cleared off the Lowestoft goal line.

Jake Reed assisted a through ball into Matt Blake four minutes after the interval and he superbly placed into Putnins bottom left hand corner to give Leiston the lead. Kyle Hammond and Matt Blake interlinked well shortly later and Hammond fired just over the Lowestoft bar. Ben Fowkes had Lowestoft’s first chance of the second half but Marcus Garnham was easily down to his right hand side. Lowestoft were finding it hard to break down Leiston’s defence with Garnham only having a few crosses to catch. Matt Blake and Lawrence set up a good move to put in Jake Reed but his shot was wide. Bammant did get in behind the Leiston defence but Garnham stood up well to save with his legs. Leiston had further chances, the best coming when Blake tapped home from close range but he was flagged for being offside. In the third and final minute of stoppage time, Christy Finch brilliantly pulled back a cross for Matt Blake but his shot was well saved however it didn’t matter as Leiston took home the points.

Leiston now head to Kings Lynn Town on Saturday in another tough encounter.

Full time:- Lowestoft Town 1-2 Leiston.

Line-ups:-

Lowestoft Town:- Putnins, Schaar, Wilkinson, Pollock, Vega, Curry, Higgs (Wren 25 mins), Deeks, Bammant, Fowkes, Smith. Subs not used:- Hedge, Pinheiro, Tann, Reynolds.

Leiston:- Garnham, Keys, Dunbar, Aitkens (Nicholls 53 mins), Jefford, Bullard, Lawrence, Hammond, Reed (Finch 76 mins), Blake, Brothers. Subs not used:- Knights, Moore, Beckwith.

Man Of The Match:- Patrick Brothers.

Attendance:- 435.