NEWMARKET Town maintained their unbeaten start to the season with a comfortable 3-1 victory over Thetford Town on Saturday.
Struggling to find their feet in the opening exchanges, the Jockeys soon found themselves behind following a Sam Bryant strke after five minutes.
As the half went on, the home side started to settle and were soon on level terms 15 minutes later th
anks to leading marksmen Dave Grainger, who was on hand to head home a well delivered cross from six yards out.
With the score all square, the league leaders began to dominate and took the lead on the half-hour mark. After outjumping his man at the back post, Aaron Rutter found room to plant his header past the young Thetford keeper Luke Wheeler.
The visitors pressed for an equaliser before half time but failed to find a way through a solid back line, Greg Devlin coming closest when he fired a shot just wide of the Newmarket post.
Town sealed the three points early on in the second half when Grainger grabbed his second of the afternoon.
Taking control of a free-kick on the edge of the area, the Jockeys midfielder made no mistake as he thumped the ball into the bottom left hand corner.
Minutes later, the visitors had a man sent off for dissent, leaving the home side to pick up another valuable three points.
Boss Karl Johnson said: "It was a good team performance. Apart from the opening 15 minutes when we struggled, we looked quite comfortable and well in control of matters."
On Saturday, the league leaders face a tricky outing at fellow promotion favourites Clacton Town and will be without the key trio of Andy Eady, James Walker and Dalton Grant.
Johnson added: "Saturday will be a real test as they have scored quite a few goals so far this season. I think they will be up there chasing for honours."
The full article contains 325 words and appears in n/a newspaper.
