Tiptree 3, Wroxham 1On a damp, miserable Saturday afternoon in Essex the weather was the winner as both teams struggled to control the ball in skidpan conditions.

Tiptree 3, Wroxham 1

On a damp, miserable Saturday afternoon in Essex the weather was the winner as both teams struggled to control the ball in skidpan conditions.

And at the end of a fairly uneventful first 45 minutes the home side were ahead, having scored two goals to Wroxham's one.

The home side went ahead in the fifth minute when Wroxham failed to clear their lines and Jamie Ricks side-footed the ball past the uncertain McAnnally.

Wroxham, who had started with the returning Josh Carus at centre-back in place of injured team captain Graham Challen, seemed steadfast at the back after that early setback and equalised in the 20th minute with an absolutely corking 35-yard left footer from Gary Gilmore that arced over the keeper into the top left hand corner.

Play was spasmodic with neither side threatening until five minutes before the break when Wroxham again were caught napping, leaving Gary Burrell to force the ball home to take the home side into the lead.

The second half deteriorated into an uneventful confrontation with neither keeper seriously threatened and Wroxham brought on their new player Seb Muddel as substitute for Manning, clearly hoping he would solve a more important muddle of getting an equaliser.

It was the home side who seemed more likely to find the net and they did so just before the end when the Wroxham keeper McAnnally and his centre back Carus collided on the edge of the box and the ball ran free to Jamie Rix who buried it into an empty net.

Wroxham: McAnally, Halliday, Howes, Hilton, Carus, Key, Manning, Lemmon, Cook, Crane, Gilmore, Subs: White, Muddel, Self, Harley.