Aveley 4 Soham Town Rangers 1

A LACK of cutting edge cost Soham dearly on Saturday as they went down to a heavy defeat at promotion-chasing Aveley.

Robbie Mason pulled the Greens level inside 10 minutes but Steve Fallon’s men spurned a host of good opportunities to build a lead and were punished by a lively Aveley attack, which secured the points for the hosts.

Despite an excellent start to the month, the Greens have now lost two games on the spin and drop down to 15th place in the Ryman League Division One North ahead of the visit of AFC Sudbury on Saturday.

Soham’s start was far from ideal and they found themselves a goal down after just five minutes as Rashid Kamara was afforded space in the box to collect a pass, turn and fire low past Dan Bircham.

In-form Robbie Mason quickly pulled the visitors back level however, notching up his 11th goal of the season as he ran on to James McCabe’s long ball and finished from the edge of the area.

Buoyed by the goal, Soham began creating chances and should arguably have gone into the lead as McCabe twice found himself in good positions in the Aveley box, only to fire wide with the goal begging.

Captain Michael Simpson was also guilty of profligacy as he was denied by the hosts keeper when one-on-one just moments after McCabe had spured his second opportunity.

Having ridden the wave, Aveley then punished Fallon’s men, taking the lead in the 24th minute as Danny Hopkins mopped up a cross from close range.

The hosts made it 3-1 in the minutes prior to half-time as Jordan Cox slipped his marker and guided a flighted ball over Dan Bircham in the Soham goal.

Despite a promising start to the second half from Soham, Aveley made sure of the points in the 66th minute as Hopkins added his second of the match, finding space amid a crowded penalty box to force the ball over the line.