After a cagey opening, The Yachtsmen took the lead on 17 minutes after some lovely interplay down the left hand side, with Finch laying the ball into Jordan King, who side-footed past Ryan Nicholls for 1-0.

The visitors responded in kind, Joe Loft restoring parity on 34 minutes with a driven effort from the edge of the box, despite Wroxham’s protests that the ball didn’t cross the line.

Chatham were the stronger in the second half, but a string of fine saves from Elliot Pride – most notably from Garry Tilley with 20 minutes to go – kept the Kent outfit at bay.

And this failure to take their chances eventually became their downfall as Wroxham made them pay, Finch slotting home from Gordon’s through ball on 83 minutes, before the latter tapped into an empty net with three minutes remaining to snatch the win.

The Yachtsmen will count themselves rather lucky to come away with all three points, with Chatham Town carving out opportunities time and time again in the second period, only to come up against an inspired Elliot Pride who kept them at bay.

Stewart Larter named an unchanged starting XI from the one that drew with Harlow Town last weekend, with Remy Gordon and Payton Swatman returning to take their places on the bench.

The game started in a cagey manner – with very little in the way of goalmouth action – until the home side seized the initiative in the 17th minute to make it 1-0 with Jordan King’s 4th goal of the season.

A lovely flowing move down the left was started by Danny Rust, with slick passing between David Hinton and Kyle Baker releasing Finch down the left, the striker laying across to King who sweetly side-footed past Nicholls and into the bottom corner.

Despite this early lead, Wroxham weren’t able to capitalise and were restricted to the ever-willing Baker as their best outlet, the winger looking dangerous every time he ran at Chatham right back Laurence Collins to win numerous corners, all which petered out to nothing.

Set pieces seemed to be the best chance of a goal for either side, with Chatham striking from a corner of their own on 34 minutes in controversial circumstances.

Garry Tilley’s corner was half-cleared by the Wroxham defence to Joe Loft on the edge of the area, the midfielder’s shot going through Pride and in, despite Wroxham’s protestations that the ball hadn’t crossed the line.

Neither side were dominating as the half neared the end, Finch dinking just wide when through on goal on 42 minutes, whilst Ben Price cleared a Chatham ball in straight at Danny Rust on the stroke of half time, with the deflection flying just wide of the goal with Pride stranded.

The visitors came out brighter in the second half – with Wroxham’s usual slick passing letting them down on numerous occasions – and they had to be grateful for Pride’s quickness off his line on 50 minutes, with a long ball over the top finding Anthony Carlton, who was quickly snuffed out by the advancing ‘keeper.

Chatham continued to press but were thwarted time and time again by an inspired Pride, Joe Bingham blasting a 25 yard effort towards goal that was excellently tipped over, before the Chatham man found space down the right five minutes later to fire across the Wroxham box, with nobody able to get a touch on the inviting cross.

Keiron McCann became the latest player to break on 68 minutes only to find resistance in the form of Pride, before two superb stops in the space of three minutes from Tilley efforts kept the visitors at bay as they pressed forward in search of a second goal.

It seemed inevitable that Chatham’s failure to capitalise on their dominance would come back to punish them, and so it would be as Christy Finch notched his 30th goal of the season on 83 minutes to give Wroxham’s the lead.

A ball down the left from substitute Remy Gordon was nicked through to Finch, the mercurial front-man having time to advance before placing his shot into the bottom right corner.

This was a body blow to The Chats – who were the better side for most of the second half – and it wasn’t long before Wroxham got their third to seal the win, as Gordon turned from provider to goal-scorer with three minutes to go.

Baker was the architect, beating both defender and ‘keeper to open up the chance only for an untimely bobble stopping the forward to shoot, but he had enough composure to lay the ball back to Gordon who couldn’t miss from three yards.

As this would be the final action of the match, with the snatch and grab victory from The Yachtsmen sending them back into the top five at the expense of Dereham Town and Brentwood.

Wroxham: Pride, Taylor, Rust, Hinton (Guyton 70’), Price, Halliday, Garrod (Swatman 79’), White, King (Gordon 63’), Finch, Baker

Chatham Town: Nicholls, Collins (Mosaku 89’), Benbow, Loft, Hickey, Holder, Tilley, Bingham, Edwards, Carlton (Taylor 56’), McCann
Subs not used: Hawkins, Watson, Kidman

Referee: John Steel

Attendance: 139