Leiston 2 Soham Town Rangers 0

Football

ANDY Furnell’s men lacked a cutting edge in front of goal as they lost out to league leaders Leiston on Monday.

Despite creating some excellent chances, Rangers’ finishing time and again fell short of the mark and they were left to wonder what might have been as the home side notched twice in the latter stages of a lively match.

The defeat leaves Furnell’s side slip to 18th place in the Ryman Division One North, with the visit of Harlow Town to come on Saturday.

It was Soham who started the more lively of the two sides, as the confidence gained from back-to-back wins over the festive period carried over into the new year.

Midfield ace Michael Simpson was in the thick of the action as Soham broke forward at pace, the best of his chances coming from Ben Seymour-Shove’s low cross which skimmed his boot and went wide, with the goal gaping.

Leiston managed some decent chances of their own and Soham had to be alert to clear off the goal line midway through the half with keeper Dan Bircham committed to a cross.

The Greens continued to pose a threat on the break into the second half and it was Simpson again who had the visitors’ best chance, a rasping drive which narrowly cleared the bar with the keeper beaten.

The in-form Dan Cotton also came close as his free-kick was superbly denied by Leiston keeper Louis Johnson.

When to two sides met back in August it was Soham who come out on top with a 2-1 win, but, on this occasion, they couldn’t make their chances count.

With 65 minutes on the clock, the home side, renewed by a raft of substitutions, finally moved ahead as a free-kick from wide was glanced home by Danny Smy amid a packed penalty box.

The home side pushed on in the aftermath of the opener and came close on a number of occasions in the final quarter of the match, the points finally being sealed in the 82nd minute as Gareth Heath rounded Dan Bircham and slotted home.