Heacham up and running in the Premier Division

Heacham were the only West Norfolk winners in a busy afternoon of action which also saw defeats for Downham Town, Fakenham Town and Swaffham Town.Paul Hunt’s side is up and running in the Thurlow Nunn Premier Division following a hard-fought 2-1 win over Woodbridge Town.Goals from Joe Jackson – his second in as many games – and Matty Prudence handed the Magpies their first win of the campaign.Jackson’s opener from a Prudence free-kick was cancelled out by Taylor Southgate going into the break before Prudence curled home a delightful set-piece after the interval to make sure of the three points.Both teams had a player sent-off. Nathan Davies saw red for the hosts after what the officials deemed a high challenge while a visiting player went with him after the melee that followed.Heacham also had a player sin-binned either side of the interval while goalkeeper Aaron Watson saved a late Woodbridge Town penalty in the dying minutes.“It was a hard-contested, gritty game where both sides had chances,” said Hunt after the game. “We had to show some real strength and grit at times and had to be resilient in the final 20 minutes. “Our supporters were superb and really got behind us.”Midfielder Tommy Hunt came off the bench to make his first appearance of the season after injury.Elsewhere, Fakenham Town’s winning streak in the top flight was ended by an emphatic 5-2 defeat at Ely City. A double from Jake Watts put the Ghosts two goals ahead at the break but a second-half collapse saw the Robins net five times without reply.In the FA Cup Preliminary Round, there was no fairytale win for Downham Town who were beaten 3-1 at higher-league Ipswich Wanderers. After a goalless first half, the Suffolk outfit took control with three goals from Chris Casement, Rashid Salau and Dylan Kirk before Lagshan Sivakumar netted a late consolation for the visitors at the GBS Stadium.Downham, who had the club’s management team of Dale Stokes and Danny White among the substitutes, had their chances but were unable to capitalise on them at crucial times of the game.In the First Division North, Swaffham Town crashed to a 4-0 reverse at Haverhill Borough to leave the Pedlars rooted to the bottom of the table on goal difference.