Yaxham 4 West End 2

Yaxham moved into second place in the Crown Fire Central and South Norfolk League Division Two.

Missing Jason Hunt, Nick Riches, Franky Hulme and Marcus Lusha, manager Barnes named himself in the starting line-up – as well as calling up Josh Meachen from the reserves for his debut between the sticks.

Yaxham started very sluggishly and found themselves 2-0 down inside the first 20 minutes.

With their minds possibly on the pending cup final, Yaxham were putting together their normal passing game, but offered little in commitment or willingness to make each ball count.

Eventually the pressure paid off, but only after a defensive mistake, which allowed Craig Clarke to latch onto the ball and fire an unstoppable effort past the keeper.

There were some tough words at half-time, and 10 minutes into the second half an error in the opposition defence allowed Clarke in for the equaliser.

Now it was a case of defence against attack, with Joe Whitty, Jason Knight and Charlie Gray all coming close as the Yak went searching for the third goal.

Yaxham introduced Chris Broughton and Craig Howlett, allowing skipper Barden to move into a more attacking role, and from his pinpoint cross Clarke slotted home his hat-trick goal to put the Yak 3-2 ahead.

To round off an excellent comeback, JK headed home number four, his 34th goal in 19 games, to secure three points and leave a feelgood taste within the team prior to their League Cup final.