Southminster & Norton produced their best performance, and best result of the season away to table toppers William De Ferrers, as we won 2-1 courtesy of goals from Chris Coombs & Adam Murphy.

The win was in no small part, down to stand-in goalkeeper Rich Edwards, who produced a number of top saves as he filled in for the injured Mike Edwards.

Southminster & Norton took a deserved 1-0 lead into the half time break following a Chris Coombs header, the first of his Norton career.

A long throw from midfielder Rob Tester caused panic in the home sides defence, and Chris Coombs headed home from 2 yards, after his initial effort hit the post. There was some controversy in the goal, with Coombs first effort, looking like it was taken from the goalkeepers’ hands. Fortunately, the referee didn’t see it this way, and Coombs reacted quickest to his stabbed effort hitting the upright.

William De Ferrers did have their chances in the first half, but everything they threw at the Norton goal was more than matched by Rich Edwards. The best of these saves in the first half, being a tip round the left-hand post following a strike from 25 yards out.

During the half-time break, manager Mike Edwards made two substitutions with Max Mitchell & Matt Abbott replacing Lee Taylor & Rik Prior respectively. The decision to replace Lee and Rik was not down to performance, with Lee producing arguably his best performance in a Norton shirt, and Rik Prior providing a useful link between the midfield pairing of Dave Houghon and Rob Tester and centre forward Bill Guppy.

The next bit of action saw centre half Jason Iontton being replaced, following a clash of heads with the William De Ferrers centre forwards, and was replaced by captain Andy Lewis, who is recovery from a groin injury.

William De Ferrers, where certainly not out of the game at 1-0 and wasting a number of chances to find the equaliser, but again Rich Edwards was more than a match, making a number of good saves, again tipping wide of his left hand post.

A tactical switch saw Adam Murphy return to left back, with 2nd half sub, Matt Abbott, switching the left wing on the advice of former captain Dan Leroy.

This switch paid immediate rewards, as Norton extended their lead to 2-0 courtesy of a goal by left back Adam Murphy.

The ball arrived on the left hand side, and Matt Abbott played a 5 yard ball infield to Dave Houghton, who played a sublime pass between the centre back and full back for Adam Murphy to run onto. After getting it under control, Murphy cooly dispatched the ball past the outstretched hand of the William De Ferrers goalkeeper and into the bottom left hand corner of the net.

Southminster & Norton then had a two goal advantage over first placed William De Ferrers who faced their first league defeat of the season.

In an attempt to hand onto what we have, Mike Edwards withdrew Bill Guppy and replaced him with Rob Lawson with 10 minutes to go, and 5 minutes later Ashley Bellingham replaced Chris Coombs.

William De Ferrers did score, what proved to be nothing more than a consolation in stoppage time, with their striker lifting the ball over the advancing Rich Edwards, to deny him, and Norton their first clean sheet of the season.

Thankfully, Norton saw off the remaining seconds to take the 3 points back to King George V.

Manager Mike Edwards was understandably delighted at the full time whistle and had this to say “I’m over the moon at the result and the performance from the lads.

“The pitch was small, and not the best pitch, so the football we like to play proved to be a bit more difficult than at home. Thankfully, we rolled our sleeves up, and were fully committed from the first minute to the last.

“It was difficult deciding who to go in goal and replace me this week, and I tried to bring in two new goalkeepers in the week without much luck, but thankfully Rich proved to be a fantastic goalkeeper and was fully deserving of the Man of the Match award this week.

S&N XI – R Edwards; Murphy, Iontton (Lewis), Leroy, Taylor (Mitchell); Coombs (A Bellingham), Houghton, Tester ( c ), Ruggles; Prior (Abbott) & Guppy (Lawson).

S&N MOTM – Rich Edwards.