St Andrews 0, Mattishall 3MATTISHALL'S first fixture of the new year sparked match of the day claims as they beat Anglian Combination Division One leaders St Andrews whom they now trail by just one point.

St Andrews 0, Mattishall 3

MATTISHALL'S first fixture of the new year sparked match of the day claims as they beat Anglian Combination Division One leaders St Andrews whom they now trail by just one point.

Mattishall were without their manager Gaven Tipple who had just celebrated the birth of a baby son, Sammy. He was also cheered by the fact that second-place Mattishall, like Horsford who are also on the same points total, have two games in hand over Saints.

The opening stages were played in midfield with the home side having plenty of possession as Mattishall struggled to get hold of the ball.

The first real opportunity fell to St Andrews when skipper Hewett was harshly adjudged to have handled a bouncing ball to concede a penalty kick. However, it was well saved by keeper Pledger diving to his right at full-stretch.

Mattishall continued to struggle to make an impact although the Saints had plenty of possession without creating too many clear-cut chances. One fine effort whistled past the right-hand post and Mattishall were the happier going into the break level.

The second half developed into the same pattern, but the introduction of substitute Clarke after 50 minutes and Harbour on the hour gave Mattishall a more direct approach. Clarke on the left, with his darting runs, got the ball into the box and put the Saints' defenders under pressure. At the other end St Andrews had two glancing headers go narrowly wide.

The deadlock was broken in the 78th minute when, following a corner, Graeme Wooden rose to head home. Mattishall drove forward and with five minutes remaining Ben King made the game safe when he delicately picked his spot from the edge of the box as the ball fell to him.

And in the last minute a rasping 20-yarder from Chris Hall gave the score-line a rather flattering look.

On Saturday, Mattishall entertain seventh from bottom Caister.

Mattishall Reserves travelled to Martham in the third round of the CS Morley Cup and advanced to the quarter-finals as a result of a fine 3-1 win with goals from Terry Hill (2) and J Knights.