UNBEATEN RUN CONTINUES IN THE LEAGUE FOR NEEDHAM MARKET WOMEN

The Suffolk honours remained with Needham Market after an extraordinary 7-4 victory away at Brantham Athletic.

In a crazy first half the home side raced into a 4-1 lead thanks to Ella Long, Emmi Bennett and a double from Ellis Rabey but braces for Annie Posnett and Megan McCrae-Robinson made it a staggering 4-4 scoreline at the break.

Keira Topple gave Needham the lead for the first time early in the second period before Posnett completed her hat trick with another unfortunate own goal rounded off the scoring.

The first period roller coaster began with the home side going ahead early thanks to a mix up in defence that saw goalkeeper Daisy Morris’s clearance charged down by Long who knocked the ball into the empty net.

Needham were threatening and equalised through Posnett after brilliant build up play saw several players involved with McCrae-Robinson providing the final assist for Posnett to emphatically finish.

But then the real carnage began as firstly Brantham restored their lead straight away from a Rabey look range free kick before she added a second shortly after with another outsideof the box hit into the top corner.

Bennett then scored another one from range from more sloppy play and it looked like the home side would score with every attack.

But like Rabey beforehand Needham pulled one straight back with Posnett racing clear, seeing her first shot saved before lobbing the rebound into the empty net.

Needham continued to pile on the pressure, and it wasMcCrae-Robinson that scored a quick fire double with the first a great hit from range before scoring a tap in to equalise at the break.

It was 4-4 at half time but that doesn’t even cover everything with one play seeing Brantham see a certain goal cleared off the line by Mia Etheridge-Golding before Posnett missed a sitter at the other end from the counterattack in the same passage of play.

The second half was a bit quieter as Needham dominated from the off with Topple scoring an early piledriver from outside the box to give them the lead for the first time.

Chances came and went but it was all the away side and fitting it was Posnett with the goal that gave Needham breathing space as she finished first time from a perfect Ciera Flatt through ball.

They weren’t quite finished either, when for the second week in a row Esme Marsh saw a dangerous cross turned into their own net by an unfortunate full back.

It was a real show of resilience after a poor first half an hour but more importantly was three more points to remain unbeaten and cut the gap to the league leaders at the top of the table.

The development team were back in action and secured an impressive 5-1 home win over AFC Kesgrave with goals from Izzy Haste, Megan Smith, Lola Hunting and a brace from Paige Pugh making it a perfect set of results for the club.