Soham Town Rangers extended their unbeaten run to three games with a 3-1 win away at Heybridge Swifts with all the goals coming in the second half.

This was the second meeting of the season between the two sides with Swifts winning 4-2 at the Lane in August to record their first points of the season. However since then both sides have changed Managers and sit in the lower part of the table.

With Jordan Gent and Simon Swinton suspended and Marcus Hall unavailable, the Greens made three changes to the side which twice came from behind to draw at home to Great Wakering Rovers last weekend as James McCabe and manager Dave Theobald returned to the side, whilst there was a debut for recent signing Ross Paterson.

Both sides were having their share of possession in the early stages, however it was Soham that was having the better of the attacking play without finding the net as Ben Sawyer put wide with an early effort with Ross Paterson also putting behind with a number of opportunities.

It was the Swifts though that came closest to opening the scoring with their first real opportunity of the half when Hunt received the ball outside the area to turn and get in a shot, which beat George Lawton but came back off the post.

The play quickly broke to the opposite end of the pitch where George Darling played the ball through to McCabe, who from the edge of the area, was denied by Cowler with the ball heading for the top corner. Debutant Paterson had one more effort before the break but put wide at the near post.

Soham made the perfect start to the second half, scoring within two minutes of the restart when Paterson made his way to the right by-line pulling the ball back into the middle of the area to George Darling, who after having his first shot blocked, placed his second attempt into the bottom corner of the net.

Heybridge came close to equalising a minute later, but following a right sided cross, Hunt was denied by the woodwork for the second time in the game.

Soham continued to push forward with Paterson and McCabe both having efforts before the Greens doubled their advantage midway through the half when Sawyer and Darling combined to play the ball into the area for Ryan Sharman to place low past Cowler.

Two minutes later Swifts reduced the deficit when Josh Townshend put the ball past his own keeper, and despite the efforts of Kojo Ofori-Gyasi’s to clear in front of his own goal, the assistant referee indicated the ball had crossed the line.

The goal lifted the hosts as they went looking for an equaliser with Godbold firing wide and Hunt placing at Lawton, with the Soham defence also thwarting other attacks. But a minute into the first of five added on in stoppage time, Soham secured the win when Sawyer intercepted the ball in midfield, delivering it to the right of the area where Paterson played it across the area for substitute Callum Russell to roll into an empty net for his first goal of the season.

Following their third game unbeaten, player-manager David Theobald believes his squad is good enough to climb up the league table. He said: “We’ve got a good squad together and we played really well against a physical side.

“It could have been four or five and we’ve had three different goal scoreres so I’m very pleased at the moment.”

Soham’s win takes them to eighteenth in the Ryman Divison North, and they face Phoenix Sports next on Saturday November 14.