Adam Smith nets Norwich United's fourth goal of the afternoon
photo courtesy of Paul Tebbutt
Haverhill went down to their fourth consecutive defeat as everything Norwich touched turned to "goals" in this encounter.
They netted once in the opening period, a cross from the left after 27 minutes seeming to be harmless as home goalkeeper Arron Benstead rose to collect it; lack of concentration and the sun in his face caused him to drop the ball and Paul Atkins turned the ball into the net.
He doubled his account in the 59th minute after he burst down the right and broke the hosts' offside trap just inside their half before putting the ball between Benstead's legs.
The away side were 3-0 up four minutes later following a loose ball in the six yard box, Shaun Bammant taking advantage to put the ball into the far bottom right corner.
The fourth goal came via Adam Smith after 83 minutes when he came inside and beat a mis-positioned Benstead at his near upright from the edge of the area.
The scoring was completed a minute into injury time from the penalty spot, Marcus Hunt fouling Bammant in the box and Ryan Haynes netting the kick.
ROVERS : Arron Benstead, Dan Pilcher, Jamie Thurlbourne, Wayne Goddard, Colin Vowden, Joe Harvey, Marc Abbott, Marcus Hunt, Adam Ben-Saud, Martin Westcott, Richard Heller.
Subs - Nick Impey (for Richard Heller, 61), Ryan Holder (for Jamie Thurlbourne, 72), Lee Hallas (for Adam Ben-Saud, 72).
Goals - None.
Bookings - None.
Red cards - None.
NORWICH : Matthew Hill, Tom Jeal, Ryan Haynes, Adam Ferguson, Adrian Ager, Robert Revell, Nicki Young, Steve Shipley, Paul Atkins, Shaun Bammant, Adam Smith.
Subs - Adam Sivell (for Nicki Young, 26), Nathan Page, Rory French (for Paul Atkins, 80), Martin Goulder (for Adam Smith, 84), Will Lewis.
Goals - Paul Atkins (27, 59), Shaun Bammant (63), Adam Smith (83), Ryan Haynes (90+1, penalty).
Bookings - Adam Sivell (55, dissent).
Red cards - None.
| WIVENHOE TOWN RESERVES | 1-2 | HAVERHILL ROVERS RESERVES |
Haverhill's impressive winning streak just about stretched to 9 games on Saturday against a Wivenhoe side languishing at the wrong end of the table.
On a terrible pitch it was the hosts who took a surprise lead on 20 minutes, a rare lack of concentration in the Haverhill defence allowing a lively Wivenhoe centre forward to slot his effort past Tom Edwards.
Haverhill were really struggling to get their usual passing game going due to a mix of the playing surface, a low sun (which they were playing in to) and a lively Wivenhoe side giving them no time to settle.
However, on half an hour the equaliser came, Lee Sharp's low cross causing panic in the box and Paul Shaw was on hand to tap home.
The equaliser seemed to settle Haverhill and it was just 5 minutes later when they took the lead, some good work on the right hand side by Harry Halls led to the ball finding its way to the unmarked Shaw, who again tapped home from six yards to get his and Haverhill's second.
The second half began without Haverhill goalscorer Shaw, who had a reoccurrence of his troublesome ankle injury, Frazier being his replacement.
Both sides enjoyed opportunity after opportunity in the second half, Haverhill's best chances coming from Sharp and Ben Cowling, but neither could find a way past the Wivenhoe 'keeper.
To Wivenhoe's credit they kept applying pressure on Tom Edwards' goal but they could also not find the target.
All in all Haverhill can consider themselves lucky to escape with 3 points and will need to be much improved when they face Stanway Reserves on Wednesday night at Hamlet Croft.
Team : T Edwards, Thomas, P Abbott, N Hammond, Hurkett, P Hammond, Cowling, Challis, Halls (N Green), Sharp (Kent), Shaw (Frazier). Sub not used - Catten.