Soham Town Rangers 3 Great Wakering Rovers 1

Soham recovered from a nightmare start to record a comfortable win over Ryman League newcomers, Great Wakering.

The visitors took the lead with barely three minutes on the clock but goals from new signing Andrew Palmer and a Luke Stanley brace earned Soham all three points.

The win moves Steve Fallon’s side up into third place in Division One North, just three points behind early pace-setters Needham Market.

Jay Nash put Wakering into an unlikely lead early on as a shell-shocked Soham defence was caught.

But Palmer levelling things up in the 23rd minute before captain Stanley netted on the stroke of half-time. And the result was put beyond doubt on the hour mark as Stanley hit his fifth of the season.

The evening end on a sour note for Wakering as Lewis Sparrow was shown a red card in the 86th minute.

The Greens came into the game on the back of an impressive 2-1 win over Burnham Ramblers on Saturday.

New signings Andy Palmer, Andres Gutierrez and Ryan Baxter came straight into the side for their debuts.

Captain Luke Stanley saw a shot cleared off the line for Soham early on before the visitors moved into the lead, in the 34th minute, when L’Heureux Menga slipped the defence to bundle the ball home from a free-kick.

Menga then spurned a good chance to double Burnham’s lead in the minutes before half-time, hooking over the bar when well placed in front of goal.

Soham were undeterred though, and emerged from the break on the front foot. Stanley pulled the hosts level three minutes after the restart, running on to Palmer’s ball to beat the keeper.

And last season’s top-scorer was on target again just six minutes later as he reacted quickest to fire home the rebound from a headed effort, which had been saved by the Burnham keeper.

Soham return to action on Saturday when they host Redbridge at Julius Martin Lane in the Ryman League. Kick off is 3pm.