Fakenham Town produced the response manager Andy Cunningham demanded as they claimed a deserved 2-1 victory over Walsham-le-Willows.
First-half Goals from Jake Watts and Jack Robinson gave the Ghosts control of the contest at the Daly Group Stadium.
George Bugg pulled one back for the visitors after the break, but Fakenham were comfortable winners as they moved back up to second in the Premier Division table.
The win was as much about character as it was quality after Cunningham had called for a reaction to last week’s disappointing display at Soham Town Rangers.
He got it in full, particularly during a dominant first-half showing.
“We didn’t show up last week at all,” the Fakenham boss admitted.
“We deserved nothing. But today I thought the first half was excellent. We created chances, played with intensity, and really put things right.”
Watts showed persistence to open the scoring, following up to score after his initial effort had been kept out by the legs of visiting goalkeeper Ryan Dunne.
The striker already has 11 goals for the campaign before mid-September.
Robinson doubled the advantage soon after with a composed finish at the end of a neat move,
“Their goalkeeper made some decent saves, but we’ve been working on being better in and around the box,” said Cunningham. “We probably could have had two or three more in that first half.”
Chances continued to fall after the restart, with Watts, Joe Keeley and Rui McIntyre all going close.
That wastefulness gave Walsham hope, and Bugg’s strike midway through the second half saw them pushed back in the final 20 minutes, although home goalkeeper Luke Pearson had a relatively quiet afternoon between the posts.
Cunningham, however, felt his side coped well under pressure, saying: “It would have been nice to keep a clean sheet, but Luke wasn’t really overworked,” he said.
“They had a bit of territory, but we restricted them. In truth, we could have made it a lot calmer for ourselves if we’d taken our chances.”
The result carried an extra edge given Walsham’s play-off semi-final win over Fakenham last season, although Cunningham was keen to play that down.
“People will say it’s revenge, but for us it was simply about putting last week right. If you overthink it, you lose focus.”
With only one defeat in their opening eight league games, the Ghosts have made a promising start.
The Ghosts’ boss is encouraged but realistic about the challenges ahead.
“There’ll be blips along the way. If we keep averaging two points a game, we’ll be there or thereabouts,” he said.
“The important thing is maintaining those levels of purpose and intensity week in, week out.”
The Ghosts are back in action next weekend when they travel to Ely City in the FA Vase.
Fakenham Town: Pearson, Malenguka, Bonner, Sturman, Mayhew, Wright, Keeley, Rasberry, Watts, Robinson, Henman. Subs: McIntyre, Coslett, Nantongwe, Cruz, Burwood.
Attendance: 135.
Also in the Premier Division, Heacham suffered a 3-1 defeat at home to Woodbridge to leave them three points adrift at the bottom of the table.
James Hubbard, Taylor Southgate and Andrew Crowe registered for the hosts, while Toby Hilliard came off the bench to reply for the Magpies.
Next up for Heacham is a trip to Ely City on Tuesday, followed by a home game against Yarmouth Town next Saturday.
Elsewhere this afternoon, Downham Town suffered their third successive defeat in all competitions with a 4-0 defeat at Brightlingsea Regent in the Isthmian League North.
Downham handed a debut to goalkeeper Jasper Briggs – signed on loan from Cambridge United – but he was picking the ball out of the net after 15 minutes as Shane Temple fired his side in front.
Temple added a second goal six minutes after the restart to give the home side a two-goal cushion at North Road.
Jake Clowsley made it 3-0 in the 78th minute before George Doyle rounded off a comfortable victory for Regent five minutes from time.
Next up for Downham Town is a trip to Newmarket Town on Tuesday night, followed by a home game against bottom-of-the-table Brantham Athletic next Saturday.
