BIG WIN AT HOME AGAINST STAMFORD

Needham Market end a run of three league games without a win with an important 4-1 home win over AFC Stamford.

Tom Rothery's side made 2 changes to last Saturday's FA Cup win, Ollie Saunders and Seth Chambers started on the bench, with Jamie McGrath and Ben Hunter returning to the starting eleven.

Needham went close in the third minute, a dangerous left wing cross was wrapped low towards the far post with the final touch beating the keeper but was hacked off the line.

Needham again beat the keeper a minute later, but the visiting defence intercepted possession.

Keiran Morphew meanwhile smartly deflected Jon Challinor's 6th minute shot from in space 30-yards out, prompting a comfortable low diving save for James Bradbrook down just to his left-hand side.

While the visitors had a 35-yard free-kick smartly blocked by the head of the wall a minute later, Needham went agonisingly close in the 9th minute.

Tommy Smith threaded Ryan Miles free in space down the left wing, whose low cross picked out the full-back free from 14-yards out, with the initial effort towards the bottom far corner beaten away by the keeper, albeit Smith poked the rebound just over.

Both sides exchanged spells of possession from that point, up to the eighteenth minute, though Needham saw a shot go narrowly over a minute later.

Needham created another good chance though on 21 minutes, great play saw Smith break past his man down the left wing before slipping Ryan Miles onto the central edge of the box into a dangerous area, the winger unselfishly slipped Joe Neal through onto the right-hand side but the defence cleared just as he attempted to pull the trigger.

Kyle Hammond's 23rd minute long range left wing free-kick was held by the keeper, just evading Red shirts lurking at the far post, in a fairly blustery first half.

Needham remained the more likely to break the deadlock, while Stamford's 33rd minute shot from the right-hand side was deflected behind by Ben Hunter.

Miles threaded Luke Ingram driving into acres of space down the right centre of midfield, though his 45th minute strike was deflected behind for a corner.

The Marketmen though went into the break arguably deservedly in front. The following corner saw Dan Morphew curl a stunning fierce strike beautifully into the top right-hand, far, corner.

Needham doubled their lead on 54 minutes, Ryan Miles was brought down on the left-hand side a minute prior, Ingram stepped up to ruthlessly thump home perfectly from the spot into the left-hand side-netting.

Hammond meanwhile saw a left wing corner just evade McGrath at the far post on 61 minutes, before Stamford's backward clearance just looped over their own crossbar.

A crucial save from the keeper denied McGrath on 64 minutes, a brilliant long ball wrapped round the defence released the attacking midfielder through onto the right-hand side only to see his attempted dink was beaten wide by the recovering keeper.

Ingram looked to thread Miles through onside on 68 minutes, but the keeper was quick onto the neat flick on, while Bradbrook claimed a cross smartly soon after.

Reggie Lambe replaced Jamie McGrath, with Ollie Saunders replacing Hammond.

Great tenacity from Ryan Miles led to a third goal for Needham on 76 minutes. The winger intercepted possession high on the left wing before threading Joe Neal clear to lash home into the bottom near corner.

Ipswich Town forward Jackson Nsofor, on for his Needham debut, and Myles Cowling entered the frey in place of Miles and Ingram, as Nsofor broke down the right-hand at close range before seeing his fierce strike deflected behind on 80 minutes.

Cowling saw a low shot from 12-yards out crucially blocked, while Reggie Lambe curled a 25-yard shot narrowly over a minute later, before Needham added a well taken fourth goal on 90 minutes.

Substitutes Seth Chambers and Nsofor linked up brilliantly as the latter latched onto the exquisite through-ball down the right to drive through and smartly convert past the keeper.

Nsofor (90+4') was then denied agonisingly by the face of the crossbar, with Stamford awarded a penalty on 95 minutes.

Tonge (90'+6') converted a late consolation from the penalty spot, just beating Bradbrook to find the bottom right-hand corner.

Needham host Bishop Stortford on Tuesday (7:45pm).

Assistant Manager Nathan Munson reflects on Saturday's home win.

DK: An important league victory, you must be pleased?

NM: Yeah, very happy with that. It does feel like a big three points, just because you look at the way we've been playing this season and I don't think we've got the points tally to reflect how good that's been. So it's nice to have a good performance and of course get the three points.

DK: Having had three games without victory in the league, did that make it any more important today?

NM: Possibly. A couple of those away games were back-to-back draws away, which, you know, you pick points up away from home, that's not always a bad thing, but again, you look at the sort of squad we've got, the depth we've got, it's probably as good as I can remember any time I've been at the club and it's a fair while, and then also, we've got Ed and Matty who are established first-team players who have gone with the reserves. So it just goes to show when we are fully fit and, you know, during the course of the season that's not all that often that everybody's free from suspension and fit, but when we are, you know, you do feel we've got a powerful squad and it'll be a difficult decision for Tom and the management team to make for the start of Tuesday night.

DK: It was a very good performance from us today, but is the more pleasing thing for you the second half?

NM: I think what we asked for at the start of the game is we've done really, really well in patches. We've done really well for 45 minutes here and 45 minutes there, but I felt today it was more of a 90-minute performance, 95-minute performance against quite a stiff breeze in the first half. We had a lot of chances and arguably could have taken more, but, you know, for Dan to step up and hit that, absolutely well done. I mean, he('s goal) good enough to win any game. He deserved to win any game, didn't he? It was a fantastic goal, and so that certainly did settle us in the second half. The performance, you know, was excellent. We scored the three and we could have got probably another three more to burst.

DK: Yeah, and the front three either got a goal and assist, which is even better.

NM: Yeah, really happy with that. Ingers, with his penalty, put the penalty away, which he often does. So that was good. Great work from Ryan for the Joe Neal one, where he blocked the pass, and Joe Neal, the good finisher, is put that way. And of course, we made the change and Jackson come on and looked afresh, as well as Mylo did. I mean, it's a really good day because they're not bad, actually. You know, their league position doesn't reflect the quality that they've got in the side and the guy on the management team, because they're really good. I've no doubt they'll turn it around. Absolutely no doubt at all, but it's just always nice to get three points against a good side.

DK: Yeah, I was just going to mention Jackson and it was two substitutes linking up very well for that, with Seth setting him through and he took it well.

NM: Yeah, I think Seth came on and did what he's done the last few matches when he's come on, and he made an impact, and so did Jackson, that's what we want from the players, if you're not starting us, because we've got a really good squad and we can't guarantee anybody's going to start, but when you come onto the football field, if you can make an impact, then that's really what the managers are after. That's absolutely what Seth did, working really hard. He does what he does and rattled a few of their defenders a little bit and then slid a great ball in for Jackson, who finished really well and could have had a second.

DK: Yeah, a very pleasing day at the office.

NM: Yeah, very pleasing day at the office. I totally agree with that. I think the three points are really important gets up into touching distance in the play-offs, and I don't know, we'll have to check and speak to the physio, but it doesn't appear that we've got any knocks. It's a fast turnaround. We might have to freshen it up. But we welcome Bishop Stortford at home, another big game. We'll go at that full tilt, and then, of course, we've got the Witham Town to look forward to next weekend.

DK: Yeah, the only dampener on the day is that we haven't got a clean sheet.

NM: Absolutely, yeah. Disappointing that you concede so late in the game that it cost you that clean sheet. I know Bradders' a bit disappointed because he guessed well and almost got across. So, you know, I feel for him as a goalkeeper. It's really frustrating that he's not been able to preserve his clean sheet, but nevertheless, it takes a little bit of gloss off, but not too much. With Tuesday in mind, hopefully now we can kick forward with a bit of momentum.

DK: Now, does the view kind of change a bit from winless in three league games to unbeaten in four games in all competitions?

NM: Yeah, I mean, I think you can look at it in different ways. We lost one in nine or something like that. So, you can look at the stats however you want. I think we know what we've got in that dressing room. We know the quality we've got, the strength of the squad. We know how hard the boys work. So, we knew it was going to happen. It's just, it's nice when it does. It will give the boys a lot of belief because you start to look at the league table and you look up rather than down to a certain extent and we've got an important game Tuesday night, and if we turn up with the same endeavour, the same intensity, the same will to win, then there's every chance we get another positive result, which breeds confidence, doesn't it? There's nothing else you can do. You can do it on a training pitch, but until you actually come here and score a handful of goals, that's the best way to do it.

DK: Is it just about peaking at the right time? I know it's still early days, but do you feel like we are starting to peak?

NM: I think we're starting to, because after three or four games in, people sometimes forget it's a 42 game season, and after four games, people are like, oh, we know what we've got. We know the depth that we've got. We know that the games come thick and fast. So, we'll just keep looking forward to the next match, which is the most important one and we'll keep performing and we'll see where that takes us during the course of the season.

DK: You mentioned Bishop Stortford on Tuesday, a side that we aren't familiar with, unlike a lot of the teams in the league.

NM: Yeah, absolutely. They've moved over from Ismin. We haven't really seen them too much over the course. It's quite nice to welcome them in. It's quite a local game for me at the time, so that's quite nice. I don't know how they got on today. Tuesday night, hopefully there's a bit of dew on the ground. We can get it and move it and we'll give them a good game.

Goalscorer Dan Morphew discusses the win over Stamford.

DK: An important win in the league. How pleased are you with that?

DM: Yeah, good win. I think it was important. We've drawn a lot of games, played really well, but drawn a lot of games just lately. So it's important to get a win and sort of back up the performances with some points on the board. So that's good. Roll on to Tuesday.

DK: Four very well-taken goals, starting with you.

DM: Yeah, it just fell nicely for me. Obviously, they sort of cleared it from across. My first touch just sat there, perfectly ready to be hit. So I swung and left-footed it, and it just flew in, thankfully. So I think the wind helped a little bit, guide it back inside the post, but yeah, nice to get a goal.

DK: You're not going to take full credit for it and say it's the best goal you scored?

DK: I wouldn't say it's the best goal I scored to be honest, Drew, but yeah, I've been playing football a long time, so it's up there. It's a good strike, but yeah, I scored a few. So I don't know if it's the best one. The best ones are the most important ones. Big games, important times. So whether it looked nice, I wouldn't say it's the best one. It'd be nice, yeah. If that was the goal that starts a momentous run, that'd be nice. I'd take that. So yeah, only time will tell.

DK: Is that your way of saying that your goal, when we were last time in this league, a way at Halesowen from a yard out is better than that?

DM: Yeah, the winning goal was at Halesowen away. Yeah, yeah. I'd say so, yeah. Big games, big goals. It's what you want to score. So, although it's a good one. Yeah, hopefully I've got a few more big goals in big games to come.

DK: As a defender are you a little bit disappointed not to have a clean sheet though today?

DM: Yeah, I think we've done enough to keep a clean sheet. It's obviously just, yeah, I think last minute of the game, yeah, just a tackle that maybe didn't need to be made. Really, the guy was going nowhere, but it's one of those, doesn't affect the overall results, so we're not going to dwell on it too much. A clean sheet would have been nice, but, you know, Tommy's been outstanding all season. You know, it's a winger who's got past him for strength, pace. So, yeah, I'm sure he'll dust himself down and be just as good as he has been in every other game next time around.

DK: What's been the talk like in the change room, especially before the game, with today being so important, given we've been without a win in the league for three games?

DM: Yeah, I think we're all aware that we want to win, obviously, every game. We go out to win every game but we're also aware that we're playing well. So, you know, the lads are in quite good spirits. I think the management's in quite good spirits, and it's very much, we believe if we keep doing what we're doing, we're going to pick up points sooner rather than later. So, I think the performances of the last three games, although we haven't won, we've played really well. We've been the better team by a mile at Royston and Barwell, you know, and that's been the case on a few occasions so far this year. We've just not got the points to sort of match how we've played. So, it's nice today to get the points. Obviously, the points are really at the end of the season. What's important, you don't win anything for playing nice football. It doesn't get you anything. It's all about points at the end of the day. So, it's nice to marry the two good performances with three points. We've had chances galore. So, it's just, you know, we've maybe been doing one extra pass instead of taking a shot on and stuff like that. Like I say, we've been playing well. We've been creating chances. It's not like we don't look like we're going to score, which would be more worrying. You know, we look like we're going to score all game, every game. It's just waiting for the net to rustle most of the time. So, it's good today that four times that happened and hopefully we can carry that forward into the next game and, yeah, carry on a scoring run.

DK: How important is it our home form is as similar as it was when we went up?

DM: Yeah, I think, you know, Tom always says you want teams to dread coming here to play, you know, which I think they did the season we won the league. Teams are sort of turning up here, coming into the season already half beaten, you know, expecting to lose. So, and that's the sort of fear you want to, you know, put in your opponents. You want them to come here sort of half beaten before they get here, ideally. So, yeah, hopefully the performances and the way we're playing, you know, I think a lot of teams will think that they'll play us once and not look forward to us playing us the next time.

DK: So, the important thing is taking the momentum into Tuesday as we're back here again.

DM: Yeah, it'll be a tough game Tuesday. Every game in this league is tough, you know, there's no sides easy. No one's going to give you three points and Bishop Stortford have started the season well. So, I'm sure it'll be a tough game, but we look forward to that. You know, we look forward to challenging ourselves against the best teams in the league. That's what everyone in the dressing room really likes doing and looks forward to doing. So, yeah, look forward to Tuesday.