Leiston defeated Lowestoft Town 5-3 over the Christmas period to make it four wins in a row at Crown Meadow and also do the double over our Suffolk rivals, after the Blues won 4-2 back at Victory Road in August.

Leiston had Seb Dunbar (illness), Dylan Switters and Brendan Ocran (both injured) out so Ollie Saunders came into the starting eleven. Youngsters Tom Bak and Harrison Podd were included in the squad on a drizzly afternoon in North Suffolk.

Leiston started well and right back Joe Marsden tested Warren Burwood in the home goal after just two minutes but the keeper saved low to his right and gathered the follow up with Will Davies in close view. Ryan Hawkins did well on the right hand side on five minutes for the hosts and his cross hit the top of the crossbar and landed on Sam Donkin’s net. Leiston, playing in yellow for the day while Lowestoft also wore their away colour of white, took the lead in the 13th minute. Siju Odelusi found space in midfield and brilliantly smashed the ball home into Burwood’s top left hand corner from twenty five yards. The hosts were level though just seven minutes later. A clever ball saw centre backs Jake Hutchings and Adam Bailey-Dennis taken out of the play and Josh Harvey controlled well and deftly poked past Donkin into the keeper’s bottom left hand corner. Burwood in the Lowestoft goal kicked poorly to Finlay Barnes who slid in George Quantrell to his left and he passed the ball across the area for Will Davies to slot under Burwood to give Leiston the lead once again. Leiston were controlling the game while also not giving much away to Lowestoft in terms of chances at this stage. The third goal came on 32 minutes. This time, George Quantrell won an arial ball, with Will Davies then finding Adam Mills with a through ball and like a carbon copy of goal number two passed to the back post, this time finding Finlay Barnes who stroked home for goal number three! Rob Eagle blazed over before Joe Marsden’s effort went well wide while Donkin was alert to save smartly from Hawkins free kick. The last action of the half saw Donkin thwart Jake Reed after Adam Bailey-Dennis missed a straight ball before the Blues defended a free kick on the edge of the area right on referee’s Murray Grant’s half time whistle.

The second half started at a slower pace for the first ten minutes, with Leiston defending deep and Lowestoft created a couple of half chances from corner but Leiston defended them well. Finlay Barnes though weaved his magic past a couple of Lowestoft defenders to play a super through ball that put in Adam Mills, and the attacking player cooly slotted past Burwood into the net for number four on 56 minutes. Donkin made a neat save from Hawkins on the edge of the area with both teams still looking good in an attacking sense. Lowestoft pulled a goal back halfway through the half with a neat finish thanks to Ryan Jarvis on the edge of the area. Good play by Mills saw the player’s shot kept out by Burwood and Quantrell curled the follow up strike just wide. Moments later and Saunders cross from Mills flick on from the left was very close to Will Davies but the striker couldn’t get a touch on it. On 83 minutes though, the game was put to bed for good when George Quantrell saw Burwood off his line from forty yards and lobbed the keeper to score a very good goal and like all the other four goals, the player celebrated with the away fans! At the other end, sub Kieran Higgs beat Donkin with a terrific shot into the roof of the net three minutes before the end of the ninety to make the closing stages nervy. In fact, in the last minute of normal time, Higgs somehow headed wide with the goal gapping for Lowestoft m but Leiston held on at to move back up to 6th place in the table.

FT: - Lowestoft Town 3-5 Blues.

The Blues can now look forward to a rest on New Years Day and get ready for their next game on Saturday 8th January when Bromsgrove Sporting visit.

Line-ups: -

Lowestoft Town: - Burwood, Ruffles, Smith, Jarvis, Tann, Cole, Hawkins, Barbor (McIntosh 78 mins), Reed, Harvey (Higgs 76 mins), Murphy (Johnson 76 mins). Subs not used: - Knights, Lane.

Blues: - Donkin, Marsden, Saunders, Eagle, Bailey-Dennis, Hutchings, Barnes (Keller 85 mins), Quantrell, Davies, Odelusi, Mills (Hunter 90+3 mins). Subs not used: - Mesuira, Bak, Podd (GK).

Blues Man Of The Match: - Siju Odelusi.

Attendance: - 764.