Mattishall entertained Long Stratton on a warm afternoon and looked to have quite a strong squad after last week's narrow defeat against leaders Harleston Town.

The match kicked off with the visitors on the attack straight away, their forwards putting the home defence on the back foot as they attacked in numbers.

And on the quarter of an hour mark a fierce shot from distance went into the bottom left hand corner of the Mattishall net to put Stratton in ahead.

Mattishall were giving the ball away too cheaply at the wrong end of the pitch and from one of these mistakes another long range shot found its way into the net on the half hour, putting the visitors two up.

Five minutes later a cross in from the right found a Stratton forward lurking on the far post and he outjumped the home defender to put his team 3-0 up.

From the kick-off Jackson Ramm noticed the visiting keeper off his line. He teed up his shot and perfectly lobbed the ball over the retreating keeper into the net to make it 3-1 to the visitors at half-time.

Mattishall kicked of the second period hoping to get back into the match but Stratton defended stoutly which started to cause frustration in the home ranks.

Halfway through the second period, Stratton had a player sent off and Mattishall started to get on top but still found it hard to penetrate the visiting defence. In the dying minutes, the hosts were awarded a penalty which was initially saved from the keeper, however, Tiago Pascal was on hand to blast in the rebound to make the score more respectable at 3-2.

Mattishall could not find the final touch to at least get a point from this match, but to be fair, Stratton were well worth their win as the hosts were well below par, especially after the last two matches they were involved in.

Mattishall Reserves travelled to Gayton to entertain their first team and were well and truly beaten 8-0. Some of the players seemed to forget they are in a very tough league and need to work hard, especially being a reserve side playing other club's first 11s. A different mindset needs to be adapted in future matches.

Mattishall first team are away tomorrow at Reepham Town in their latest Anglian Combination Premier Division match while Mattishall Reserves are at home to Martham (both 2pm).