Dereham Town 0 Witham Town 2

Dereham Town suffered a disappointing defeat at Aldiss Park, with a goal in each half earning the points for their Essex visitors.

The Magpies started brightly and won three early corners, the second causing visiting keeper Sam Soutar to pedal back smartly and palm Danny Beaumont's in-swinger to safety.

They continued to press before Tyler Hayes and Tim Monsheju combined well to win a corner for Witham.

Dereham made a hash of clearing Monsheju's delivery, allowing Tony Robinson to stab the loose ball home from close range and give the visitors a 15th minute lead.

Home defender James Grant was forced to head Usman Adeniji's centre behind at the far post as Witham staged another quick break.

Monsheju hit a long range effort off target and home keeper Will Viner tipped Ryan Charles' cross-cum shot behind for a corner as Dereham struggled to make an impact.

Adeniji then dragged a 20 yard drive wide of the target after being allowed too much space while Witham fullback Alex Anderson drilled a powerful drive over Viner's bar in the 34th minute as they threatened again.

A speculative long range effort from Vadim Constandachi flew narrowly wide as Dereham looked to break the pressure. They then came close to claiming an equaliser in the 41st minute when Jay Eastoe-Smith's downward header was hacked off the line.

However the Magpies fell further behind five minutes after the break when Monsheju picked up Viner's poor clearance and dispatched the ball into an unguarded net. Things then got worse for the home side when they lost Eastoe-Smith to injury.

Dereham created an opportunity when David Hinton fed Joe Gatting on the edge of the box but keeper Soutar got down well to save the striker's curler. As play switched ends Viner made a good save to turn aside substitute Scott Kemp's close range effort.

Dereham defender Dion Fray headed a Beaumont corner into Soutar's arms as the Magpies' blank night continued.

Monsheju later fired way off target and Viner saved from Max Bradford as the visitors looked to add to their tally but they had already done enough on the night.