Soham Town Rangers 2 Dereham Town 3

Dereham Town got back to winning ways after a hard fought encounter at Julius Martin Lane, writes Rene Kendal.

Soham leapt into a fifth minute lead when Ryan Sharman's drive was blocked and the ball fell to defender Simon Swinton whose 18 yard drive took a deflection before finding the net.

However, Dereham were soon back on level terms. Luke Tuttle took a short corner to Ryan Crisp who exchanged passes with his skipper before beating keeper Dion-Curtis Henry with a firm diagonal drive with eight minutes on the clock.

The Magpies then came close twice as keeper Henry dived to turn aside Tuttle's free-kick before Jake Anema had a point blank range effort blocked from the resultant corner. The visitors' positive play was rewarded in the 20th minute when Adam Smith cooly rounded Henry to finish a clinical passing move involving himself and Luke Tuttle to put Dereham in front.

Tuttle and Rhys Logan soon both had half chances to add to the Magpies' tally and Soham did not have their next opportunity until Swinton drilled a 20-yarder into Will Viner's arms.

Dereham then launched a quick break, with Tom Walters releasing Crisp from the centre of the park and the striker ran on and volleyed past Henry for his second of the night and Dereham's third in the 37th minute.

After the break Crisp missed a chance to complete his hat-trick when he failed to connect with Tuttle's defence splitting free-kick. Soham immediately got back in the game with Sharman netting from close range in the 55th minute.

Dereham regained control before Soham missed another good chance in the 78th minute when Salim Relizani headed wide at the far post. As the visitors looked to finish the game Craig Bussens had a fierce 18-yard shot blocked but Dereham had already done enough to take the points.

Dereham: W Viner, J Anema, F Blake-Tracey, V Costandachi, M Howard, D Frary, R Logan (C Bussens 67), A Smith, R Crisp (S Bislasik 80), L Tuttle, T Walters (M Cook 76). Sub not used: R Linford.

Attendance: 110.