THE SEED GROWERS BLOSSOM

NORTH ROUND-UP

COGGESHALL Town produced one of their performances of the season to down Maldon & Tiptree 4-1 and close to within four points of their fellow promotion rivals.

Conor Hubble opened the scoring for the visitors, floating a set-piece all the way in to bag his third free-kick in as many goals in a purple patch.

But the dead-ball dynamo wasn’t done there, yet another freekick firing in off the post as Maldon were left stunned.

Maldon came out of the blocks after the break, back into the game with Jack Cawley firing home the rebound after an initial penalty was saved by Danny Sambridge.

That ensured a nervy finale but Coggeshall wrapped it up late, Ross Wall smashing home from a superb team move before Nnamdi Nwachuku turned on the style to make it 4-1.

Drama is set to come at the bottom of the table too, with the league strugglers’ results card littered with draws for four of the bottom five teams.

Two of those sides played each other, with Great Wakering Rovers

and Soham Town Rangers sharing the points as both remained on 31 points from 31 games played.

Jake Gordon blasted home from five yards out as the hosts went into the break ahead.

But Soham were rewarded for a strong second half when Alfie Connor fired home with 18 minutes to play.

One goal apiece was how the game finished but the numbers left on the pitch was more uneven, Soham’s goal-scorer Connor seeing red after a foul on Billy Johnson.

A 1-1 draw also came the way of 18th-placed

Witham Town as they levelled up with top-ten side Felixstowe & Walton United.

Both goals came in the first half, with Witham making an excellent start when Chinedu Vine gave them a 16th-minute lead.

But Felixstowe were back level before the break, Callum Bennett firing in excellently from outside the area.

Just two sides sit below Witham and one of them –

Mildenhall Town – bagged a vital point to take them one clear of bottomside Romford, held to a 2-2 draw with Tilbury.

It was Town who took the lead after 17 minutes through John Sands, though Thomas Barton pulled it back to 1-1 on the half-hour.

Mildenhall thought they had won it on 77 minutes when Joseph Asensi finished but two minutes later Lewis Smith had the game back level.

Romford are now stranded at the bottom after losing 3-1 to Basildon United – completing a turnaround after George Woodward had put the visitors ahead.

Goals from Daniel Cheema, Callum Taylor and Joseph Paxman in the space of 15 second-half minutes sealed the deal, condemning Romford to their 22nd defeat of the season. Mid-table Dereham Town stunned Canvey Island with a 4-1 win, Joe Gatting getting a double after Ryan Crisp’s opener.

Dereham opened the scoring on 39 minutes when Crisp scored from close range after Rhys Logan has squared the ball to him from the right.

It was 2-0 on the stroke of half time when Logan’s crossed to the back post and found striker Gatting who scored with a downwards header, the same man scoring ten minutes later.

James White was found by Adam Vyse for a Canvey consolation before Logan broke into the box and fired home to add a goal to his two assists.

Finally, a Mitch Hahn wonder-goal helped new manager Jim Cooper bag his first win as Grays

Athletic manager with a superb 3-2 success over AFC Sudbury.

Aron Gordon and Michael Toner also netted for a triumphant Grays while Callum Harrison was among the Sudbury scorers in a five-goal thriller. Brentwood Town’s game with Aveley fell foul of the elements and was postponed due to bad weather.