Great Wakering Rovers 0, Leiston 4

WAKERING were taught not to snooze halfway through a match as league leaders Leiston beat them 4-0 on Saturday.

Three goals in a seven-minute period either side of half time killed off Rovers' plucky challenge at Burroughs Park.

The home side started well on a blustery day, producing flowing passing moves.

However, Leiston created a fluid move in the 18th minute to open the scoring with Rhys Henry hitting a curling shot past Louis Godwin-Green from the edge of the area.

Rovers kept their tempo up with Julian Okai showing great strength to shrug off Patrick Brothers before cutting into the box, only to send his shot wide in the 23rd minute.

Four minutes before the break though, a lovely pass from Gareth Heath set Michael Brothers free to double the visitors’ lead.

This knocked the stuffing out of Rovers and two minutes later Henry twisted around Nathan Fletcher before scoring with a beautiful shot.

And two minutes after the break, Michael Brothers supplied Leon Ottley-Gooch with a superb cross for the midfielder to bang home the fourth to take the three points home to Suffolk.

The home side finally woke up again to produce chances, with Okai showing good strength again in the 81st minute to get the ball off the defence before hitting his shot tantalisingly wide.

But proceedings ended sourly for Rovers as forward Ashley Hawkins got sent off for two bookings, both for kicking the ball away after offside decisions, during injury time.

Wakering player-manager Dan Trenkel admitted there were not too many positives to take out of the game, saying the players “didn’t do what they were asked”.

He added his players must be ready for a fight tomorrow evening when they have a relegation battle six-pointer away at Ware.

Trenkel said: “Tuesday night is going to be like a cup final.

“We’ve got to turn up and be prepared for a battle. No one wants a relegation on their CV.

“I’m not worried about our ability. We’ve got the ability to win games.

“It is mentally where we must change. The guys have to roll their sleeves up.”

Great Wakering: Godwin-Green, Fletcher, Holmes, Carlile, Sparrow (c), Skelton, Johnson (Mochalski, 58), Trenkel, Okai (Drury, 81), Hawkins, Nash (Williams, 70).