Mattishall picked up their first home win of the season on Saturday (2-1 over Beccles) to boost their chances of avoiding relegation from the Premier Division of the Anglian Combination.

Mattishall picked up their first home win of the season on Saturday (2-1 over Beccles) to boost their chances of avoiding relegation from the Premier Division of the Anglian Combination.

With third-from-bottom Halvergate losing heavily at the weekend, Mattishall are just four points adrift going into Saturday's testing home encounter with Norfolk Senior Cup finalists Sheringham (2.30, meet 1.30).

Playing their back-to-back fixture with Beccles Town they reversed the scoreline by winning the match by 2-1.

That glimmer of hope still remains as three points were vital to stay in touch with other teams at the bottom of the league.

The team have to keep trying that bit harder to try and scrape results to keep in the fight for safety. Things did not change that much at the bottom as the one team below Mattishall, Hindringham, also picked up a surprise three points by beating Brandon 3-1.

Mattishall kicked off and were on the attack straight away with some good right- wing probing into the visitors' defensive line-up.

However, the hosts knew what their opponents were like at defending as was proven last week at Beccles.

In the eighth minute, Ryan Hardy floated in a right-wing cross which took everyone by surprise as it went into the top left-hand corner of the net to open the scoring.

The home team continued their attacking play, but as the half wore on the visitors came more into the match and looked dangerous on more than one occasion. Half time arrived with just the one goal deficit for the visitors.

The second half got under way and within 10 minutes Beccles levelled matters.

A very good run down the left flank and a good cross into the danger area resulted in the equaliser. The hosts could not clear the danger and it was left for a visiting striker to hit home.

At last it was good to witness the determination of the home players as they continued to work hard.

The tireless Simon Wooden ran on to a loose ball which was also being contested by the visiting keeper. However, it was Wooden who won the race and chipped over the keeper to see the ball run into the net, much to the delight of a good home crowd.

The hosts comfortably kept that slender lead in a match that was only marred by the referee sending off two players, one from each side, in the dying minutes in unrelated incidents.

Both clubs were concerned at this action and with well over 30 minutes of a de-brief by an assessor, the clubs are hoping the situation will be addressed.