Haverhill's poor way run continued as they went down to their fourth defeat on the trot to a team that had lost one game in their last eighteen, winning fifteen of them and keeping two clean sheets in their last six.

There were three changes to their starting line up, goalkeeper Matt Morrison and midfielders Louis Harper and Scott Wilby coming in for Dave Walton, captain Marcus Hunt (absent through illness) and Harry Halls, who dropped to the bench.

Things didn't start well for the away side on the narrow Bloomfields pitch as their defence was found lacking early on for the second game in a row, Needham taking the lead after 4 minutes when some poor defending from a corner by James Evans ended with the ball falling to Danny Smy, who tapped the ball in to the bottom right hand corner of the net.

With the game going at a fast tempo Haverhill found a surprising equaliser in the 13th minute, Jamie Challis hitting a hard hopeful shot from 20 yards out and goalkeeper Liam Jones, being called into action for the first time, saw the ball slip through his hands, over his head and into the net behind him.

Needham were lucky to keep eleven men on the field shortly afterwards, Kevin Horlock being lucky to only receive a yellow card for his loud comments, the two sides going into the break on level terms.

It took 13 minutes of the second period for the hosts to regain their advantage, Horlock heading Tom Agricole's cross back across goal and into the bottom left corner.

Needham must have thought they'd secured all three points in the 74th minute, Kevin Horlock playing a pass inside the left of the away defence for Darren Bethell to beat the offside trap and chip the ball into the top right corner of the net to leave Morrison with no chance of a save.

The travellers still fought for their cause, however, and pulled within a goal of their opponents after 87 minutes, Louis Harper looping his header from Scott Wilby's corner over Jones and the defender on the line to set up a dramatic finish.

Unfortunately a cruel mistake in defence halted any hopes of a comeback in the 90th minute when a mix up between Morrison and defender Danny Shipton lead to the former's slighter clearance coming off the latter to leave Evans with the easy job of going forward with the ball unchallenged and scoring in to the empty net.

ROVERS : Matt Morrison, Paul Abbott, Danny Shipton, Stuart Wardley, Sam Holmes, Stuart Kingham, Scott Wilby, Marc Abbott, Martin Westcott, Louis Harper, Jamie Challis.
Subs : Lee Salmons (for Martin Westcott, 60), Harry Halls (for Jamie Challis, 60), Ben Cowling, Ryan Kent (for Stuart Kingham, 77).
Goals : Jamie Challis (13), Louis Harper (87).
Bookings : Marc Abbott (35, unsporting behaviour), Stuart Wardley (59, unsporting behaviour).
Red cards : None.

NEEDHAM : Liam Jones, Lewis Pemberton, Tom Agricole, Phil Boyland, Richard Butler, Rhys Barber, James Evans, Craig Parker, Darren Bethell, Danny Smy, Kevin Horlock.
Subs : Tommy Smith, Matt Buckle (for Kevin Horlock, 90+1), Danny Thrower, Damien Hilton (for Danny Smy, 68), Jay Denniss (for Phil Boyland, 74).
Goals : Danny Smy (4), Kevin Horlock (58), Darren Bethell (74), James Evans (90).
Bookings : Kevin Horlock (14, dissent), Danny Smy (59, unsporting behaviour), Lewis Pemberton (76, unsporting behaviour).
Red cards : None.