Soham Town Rangers 1 Waltham Abbey 3

SOHAM’S search for their first point of the season stretched into a fourth match as they went down to table-toppers Waltham Abbey on Saturday.

Despite contesting admirably throughout against the league’s form side, lapses in defence at key times cost the Greens dearly as they had only a Robbie Mason goal to show for their efforts.

The defeat leaves them rooted to the bottom of the Ryman Division One North, the only team in the league yet to score a point.

Though they came into the match with six points and almost 20 places between them, there was little to chose between the sides in the early stages as midfielders Scott Carter and Neil Andrews created shooting chances and Ross Paterson had an effort narrowly off target.

Lively winger Dan Cotton was also in the act, forcing a good save from the Waltham goalkeeper, who was pressed into action following an injury to the first-choice stopper.

Despite some good play however, it was the visitors who opened the scoring just shy of the 30-minute mark as Ayrton Coley mopped up from close range.

Undeterred, Soham continued to create chances, with Mason and Paterson both going close and their persistence was finally rewarded in injury time when the increasingly prolific Mason fired low past the keeper from Buster Harradine’s cross.

Much to the dismay of the watching fans however, the Greens lost concentration in defence and conceded just two minutes later to restore their advantage.

Waltham stepped up a gear after break as Dan Bircham was kept on his toes, but they couldn’t find a decisive goal as Soham clung on.

Emmanuel Osei proved a thorn in the side of the Soham defence in the second period and the striker stung Bircham’s gloves on a number of occasions with close-range efforts.

In a frantic last 10 minutes, Soham threw everything at the visitors, with Jack Paxman putting wide of the post from an excellent cross.

The visitors made sure of the win with less than five minutes left as Loren Maxwell nodded home a floated free-kick.