The Yachtsmen faced the league runners up at Trafford Park in their last league game of the season. Wroxham were comfortably beaten in their away tie against a side who were league leaders for three quarters of the season.

The hosts fielded a fairly young side, with the ever promising young Joe Marsden starting at Right Back and Rio Starkings given a starting place alongside experienced Andy Eastaugh in Centre Back.

Wroxham took the game to the visitors from the off and played the far better football in the first half, retaining the ball in the Maldon half for fair periods of the first half.

And it was the Yachtsmen who took a deserved early lead on 9 minutes when Matt Daniels put in a superb cross from the left to find Ross Durrant unmarked at the far post to volley home from 6 yards. 1-0 to the Yachtsmen.

The visitors reacted to the Yachtsmen taking a shock lead and should have levelled the game on 21 minutes when Maldon's Left Back was found unmarked at the far post but his header was put over from 6 yards. A let off for Wroxham.

The hosts nearly increased their lead on 27 minutes when Striker Ben Thompson tried his luck from 30 yards out. The Yachtsman hit a cracking half volley which sailed inches wide.

On 31 minutes Wroxham wasted another good opportunity when they attacked 4 on 3 but Winger Jamie Speller made the wrong choice, deciding to shoot instead of playing Joe Marsden in on the right. Speller scuffed his shot, and although it nearly deflected in off Ben Thompson, it would have been better if he had played in Joe Marsden who would have been through on goal.

Their was another let off for the Yachtsmen on 36 minutes when Andy Eastaugh failed to clear a Maldon cross. The ball landed to a Maldon forward, who had all the time in the world to pick his spot but hit a first time effort straight in to the arms of Hilton from 8 yards.

With the half drawing to a close, Wroxham extended their lead when Centre Back Rio Starkings lofted the ball over the top of the Maldon defence to pick out Ben Thompson who lobbed the keeper to give Wroxham a 2-0 half time lead.

HT- Wroxham 2-0 Maldon & Tiptree

The second half was dominated by the visitors.

Matt Blake had a speculative effort on target from around 40 yards which the Maldon Goalkeeper did well to save, but this was the closest the Yachtmen came to a goal in the second.

On 54 minutes Maldon & Tiptree were awarded a free kick inside the Yachtsmen's half, at which time David Batch was forced to bring off Joe Marsden through injury and replace him with Sam Harty. Maldon & Tiptree scored from the resulting free kick which was delivered deep in to the hosts area and well headed in by Berquez to pull a goal back for the visitors. 2-1.

The goal appeared to revitalise Maldon & Tiptree, and they started to control the game. However neither side really created much of threat in front of goal for the next 25 minutes, during which time both sides made substitutions.

For the final five minutes, Maldon done a Grays and put lots of pressure on the Wroxham defence and got their reward on 85 minutes when Ben Jones spent too much time on the ball and made a mistake by giving it away to the visitors who attacked in force. The ball went wide and then was delivered in to the box for Berquez to net his second of the match and equalise for the visitors. 2-2.

With a minute remaining of normal time, Wroxham made their final substitution, Angelo Harrop replacing Matt Blake. But the late substitution didn't have enough time to make a difference for the Yachtsmen and it was actually Maldon & Tiptree who came very close to getting the 3 points deep into injury time.

FT- Wroxham 2-2 Maldon & Tiptree

Att: 150

Teams:

Wroxham: Hilton (GK), Marsden, Gordon, A.Eastaugh, Starkings, Self, Durrant, Daniels, Thompson, Speller, Blake
Subs: Jones, Forshaw, Harty, Harrop, Cook

Maldon & Tiptree: Wright (GK), Evritt, Cawley, Berquez, Golby, Glowacki, Bowditch, Dark, Guy, McLeod, Wareham.
Sub: Johnson, Robinson, Boylan, May, Willis.