Wroxham fall to Abbotts

Two set-piece goals in the opening 22 minutes were the undoing of Stewart Larter’s Yachtsmen and despite a spirited response in the second half – where they pulled one back through Matt Bedford’s own goal – they were ultimately unable to break down a spirited Abbey side to slip to their first defeat in six games.

Larter made two changes from the side that defeated Cray Wanderers on Tuesday, with Ben Price and Nathan Stone replacing Danny Rust and Jack Garrod in the starting line up, whilst academy youngster Danny Rogers also earned a place on the bench in his first call up to the senior squad.

The Abbots started brightly and found themselves 1-0 up after just 10 minutes, Jason Hallet – who was a constant thorn in Wroxham’s defence all day – nicking in at the back post to provide a deft finish past Elliot Pride for his 25th goal of the season.

The home side were on top and found themselves 2-0 up 12 minutes later as another set-piece paid dividends for the hosts.

Jon Docker provided the delivery, whipping in a lovely corner from the left that was nodded to Sam Chaney, the midfielder heading home unmarked from close range to double his side’s lead.

Wroxham seemed bereft of ideas going forward and were constantly being stretched by an Abbey side full of confidence, although they couldn’t make their dominance pay in terms of any more goals before the interval.

Larter’s Yachtsmen woke up as the second half began, using the wind to their advantage to begin to push Abbey’s defence back.

Eventually, they pulled one back on 64 minutes as the endeavour of Remy Gordon – one of Wroxham’s brightest lights going forward – got them back into the game.

The winger chased a Danny White through ball and charged down on the Abbey goal, tussling with skipper Bedford, who eventually got the final touch to divert the ball past Jaydon Purdue and into the net.

This spurred The Yachtsmen on and they became a different animal going into the final 20 minutes, Stone and Jamie Forshaw both going close – the latter in particular who’s well-struck effort just flew into the side netting on 68 minutes.

And despite a triple substitution from Larter in the 77th minute in an attempt to shake things up a bit, a resolute Abbey side managed to hold on with some inspired defending to seal all three points.

Defeat means Wroxham drop one place to fourth in the Ryman North table, although defeat for Dereham Town against Harlow Town means they are still four points clear of 6th place with a game in hand.

Waltham Abbey: Purdue, Kizzi, Bedford, Williams, Szwarski, Chaney (Peagram 80’), Docker, Bristow, Hallet, Attard, Russell

Unused: Hart, Olukoga, Harley

Wroxham: Pride, Taylor, Price, Hinton (Rust 77’), Howell (Guyton 77’), Halliday, Forshaw (Rogers 77’), White, Stone, Finch, Gordon

Attendance: