Lowestoft Town were left to rue an excellent goalkeeping display from Needham Market's Danny Gay as they slipped to defeat at Needham Market.

In a keenly-contested Suffolk derby at Bloomfields, it was the visitors Lowestoft who had the better of the chances, with Gay forced into making a multitude of saves throughout the contest.

But midway through the second-half it was Needham who struck the decisive blows. After seeing his header kept out by stand-in goalkeeper Josh Glover, John Sands blasted home the rebound to put the hosts in front.

And five minutes from time club captain Kem Izzet sent Glover the wrong way from the penalty spot to seal a 2-0 win for Mark Morsley's side.

It was the visitors who showed their intent early on when Jake Reed was played through on goal and dinked the ball past Gay and into the net, but the linesman ruled out his ninth minute strike for offside.

Needham's defence were also called into action in the opening stages, with Jake Dye making a great block to prevent a shot at goal, after Gay had been brought out to push away Harry Barker's inviting cross.

Reed then saw two efforts in quick succession kept out by the Needham goalkeeper, before at the other end a quick counter-attacking move, which started with an interception from Reece Dobson in front of his own box, culminated with Sands heading straight at Glover.

Either side of the break Gay came to the home side's rescue again, firstly palming away a deflected strike from Ryan Jarvis, and thwarting Reed once more early in the second-half.

The Marketmen were defending with their backs to the wall, with manager Morsley looking to the bench to turn it around and bringing on Izzet and Manny Osei.

And just as an opening goal for Lowestoft looked imminent, Needham found a crucial breakthrough with 65 minutes on the clock. Sands sent a header straight at visiting goalkeeper Glover, who could only parry the ball back into his path, and the Marketmen's number 10 needed no more invitations, firing the loose ball into the roof of the net to put the hosts in front.

As Lowestoft committed more men forward in a bid to get a late equaliser, Sands broke through and went down in the box with the linesman awarding a penalty.

Substitute Izzet stepped up and calmly converted the spot kick to give the Marketmen a 2-0 lead, and with it secure their third win on the bounce to propel the Marketmen up to third in the Ryman League Premier Division table.