A RICHARD Gammon goal was scant consolation for Soham as they were dumped out of the FA Trophy by a ruthless Whitehawk side on Saturday.

Soham Town Rangers 1

Whitehawk 7

The Greens came into the side on the back of a superlative win at Needham Market on Tuesday but were brought back down to earth by Sussex-based Whitehawk who showed no mercy in a scintillating performance.

Andy Furnell’s men will be looking to shrug the defeat off when they host Brentwood Town in the Alan Boon League Cup first round on Tuesday.

Whitehawk needed less than two minutes to open their account for the day as Josh Jones 20-yard free-kick took a cruel deflection to wrong-foot Dan Bircham and squeeze across the line.

Soham were quick to shrug off the setback however, and began to settle into the game in the ensuing minutes, Dan Cotton keeping the goalkeeper on his toes with a shot from 30 yards.

The two sides traded possession throughout much of the half, with few chances on goal until the visitors landed a sucker-punch minutes before half-time, James Fraser completing a polished passing move by finishing past Bircham from close range.

Soham were caught cold again minutes into the second half as Whitehawk’s Sam Gargan powered a header home from a corner before Ben Godfrey broke from midfield to slot past an exposed Dan Bircham.

Hope was briefly restored for Soham in the 67th minute as Gammon capitalised on indecision between goalkeeper and defender to nip in and head home to make it 4-1.

Despite their best efforts going forward however, Soham were unable to stop Whitehawk’s regular raids on their goal, with three further goals scored in a crushing final 20 minute period.