Barsham, sponsored by the Butchers Arms, had no league game for the second successive week so had a mid-season friendly against Norton Reserves at Beef Meadow.

With the Barsham injury list growing, they had 14 players unavailable or injured so it was good that manager Nick Holmes was still able to field a side.

On an ideal day for football both sides played a good competitive game. Manager Holmes had the pleasure of five of his under 18s on the pitch at the same time, continuing their introduction to the adult game.

James Ellis had a very good game in the Barsham goal and was on hand to deal with everything Norton threw at him. Barsham took the lead when Laurie Clarke picked out Luke Ellis with a pin-point pass and the latter blasted his shot into the net for a 1-0 lead.

The second goal soon followed, Ollie Cook won the ball just inside his own half and made a long pass to Ellis on the right wing. After beating his marker he crossed the ball into the penalty area for Mark Nobbs, who rose above the defence to head home with a bullet header.

The Norton defence were then kept busy for the remainder of the half.

Marc Howard and Dan Johnstone looked comfortable in the centre half positions, handling everything sent their way. Matt King and Mark Nobbs continued their partnership in central midfield where they both had excellent games.

Norton rallied in the second half and pulled a goal back to make it more interesting at 1-2.

However, Luke Ellis then scored a second half hat-trick with some excellent finishing. Firstly he picked up a loose ball to blast the ball passed the helpless keeper. Then he scored a cracking goal from distance when he spotted the Norton keeper off his line near the edge of the penalty and so blasted a shot over his head.

The third was after the Barsham right back played a point cross to Ellis who made no mistake in firing into the net. So with Luke Ellis scoring four well-taken goals and Nobbs with a rare header Barsham ended up comfortable 5-1 winners but still have room for improvement.

This weekend Barsham are back in league action when they entertain Southwold at Beef Meadow with a 2pm kick off.