Lowestoft Town eased to a routine home win over Margate this afternoon with a clinical finishing display.

Jake Reed opened the scoring in the fourth minute with a composed finish after latching on to Robert Eagle's cross and Manny Osei effectively put the game out of Margate's reach just before half-time with a close-range effort.

Lowestoft maintain their stranglehold on the game in the second period and it came as no surprise when Sam Gaughran made it 3-0 with a bullet header after the defender was found by Jack Ainsley's free-kick midway through the second half.

Lowestoft got off to the perfect start as Reed grabbed his sixth goal of the season. Eagle had all the time in the world down the left flank to swing in a cross to find the striker inside the six-yard area and Reed volleyed home from close range.

Lowestoft were unable to build on this early momentum though and Margate showed throughout the first period they carried a threat of their own.

Margate winger Warren Whitely was prominent in several forays forward and he came close to picking out Matt Bodkin in the seventh minute but his fellow winger was unable to control when well placed.

The match became quite attritional as the first period progressed and both sides could have been reduced to 10 men just after the half-hour mark when Dan Gleeson and Charles Ademeno tussled on the floor in a situation befitting a wrestling match. However, referee Jon Block calmed the situation before cautioning both players.

Eagle, so often at the heart of everything Lowestoft did going forward, forced Margate keeper Craig Holloway into a good save with a decent 20-yard effort but just before the break Lowestoft got the second goal they craved.

Eagle's free-kick found Gaughran, whose excellent header from 10 yards could only be parried into the path of Osei, who slammed the ball home from close range.

Margate looked a broken side in the second half and rarely offered the threat they posed in the first period. Chris Henderson came on for Reed at the start of the second half after the former Dagenham & Redbridge man took a knock to the head before the break.

Henderson showed some nice touches and demonstrated that the recent thigh injury that had kept him out had not blunted the former Bury man's searing pace. He latched on to a fine pass by Gleeson to get in behind the Margate back four but his cross into the six-yard area was hacked clear.

But the Trawlerboys got the third goal they deserved midway through the second period. Henderson did well to win a free kick in a dangerous position on the edge of the box and Jack Ainsley's perfectly flighted delivery was headed home by Gaughran for his third goal of the season.

- Lowestoft Town (4-4-2): Jones, Gleeson, Gaughran, Haynes-Brown, A Smith (S Ainsley 55), J Ainsley, Jarvis, Fisk, Eagle, Osei (Doddington 90), Reed (Henderson 46). Subs not used: Okay, Jessup.

- Margate (4-4-2): Holloway, Cox, Vines, Borrowdale, Dolby, Whitely, Fakinos (Sammoutis 77), Avery, Bodkin, Ademeno, Walsh. Subs not used: Azeez, Ehui, Beale, Osborn.

- Referee: Jon Block

- Attendance: 511