Beccles Caxton 1, Horsford Utd 2 FOLLOWING a two-week break courtesy of the good old British weather, Dolphin Autos Anglian Combination Division Two leaders Beccles Caxton welcomed fellow promotion hopefuls.

Beccles Caxton 1, Horsford Utd 2

FOLLOWING a two-week break courtesy of the good old British weather, Dolphin Autos Anglian Combination Division Two leaders Beccles Caxton welcomed fellow promotion hopefuls.

With Hurren returning across the avenue (where Caxton wish him well) and A White, G White and Remblance all unavailable the Caxton management were again forced into changes.

With Masters taking up an unaccustomed position at left-back, this made way for both L Clarke and Harlow to take up wide midfield positions and Howlett to accompany J Clarke up front.

Early on both Heaney and Pasque in the heart of midfield for Caxton were prominent as Caxton settled the better of the two teams in the testing conditions.

Horsford were content to sit back, knocking the ball around confidently without making any probing advances into the final third. But the hard-working Caxton midfield were putting a lot of pressure on their opponents and forcing them into hurried exchanges.

Down the left the dangerous, pacy wide left player for Horsford was being well marshalled by the impressive Wilson, who had started the game well for Caxton.

With Horsford still trying to find their feet Caxton took the lead as top scorerJ Clarke found space out on the right and fired an inch-perfect shot past the advancing keeper.

A probing run from Masters ended with his mis-timed effort flying well wide of the target as Caxton still refused to let the visiting team settle.

Another half-chance went begging when L Clarke was just unable to get the ball out from under his feet in the sticky surface when in on goal, and another Masters effortnarrowly cleared the cbar when most thought the ball had dropped into the back of the net.

As half-time approached Horsford's main threat was still coming down their left side with the Caxton centre pairing of Howard and Payne having a relatively comfortable time.

Barnard replaced the injured L Clarke at the break, taking up his position at

left-back, and Masters moved into a more forward role also on the left as Caxton continued where they left off at the end of the first period.

Gradually, Horsford began to get into the game as they looked to get something from it.

Until that point they had contributed very little as an attacking outfit, but their efforts were rewarded with an equaliser following a crisp three-man move which was finished well past a stranded Caxton keeper.

Riseborough replaced the tiring Harlow and he was soon into the thick of the action as his well-timed header following an inch-perfect cross from the right produced a great save from the Horsford keeper. He was going the wrong way but somehow managed to divert the ball around the post for a corner.

A string of corners for the home team came to nothing as Caxton looked for the winner.

But, just to show you how cruel the game can be, Horsford snatched the lead from nothing following an unfortunate slip from the home keeper which allowed a Horsford striker to steal the ball from his grasp. Although he tried to keep the ball out he was unable to do so, giving Horsford an undeserved lead.

Caxton made their final change of the afternoon with Hubbard replacing Howlett and Barnard moving up front to partner J Clarke.

Following a rash challenge from substitute Hubbard, Horsford were awarded a penalty, but keeper Hembling was up to the task, making a good save which seemed to inspire his team- mates.

With man-of-the-match Heaney driving his colleagues on, Caxton laid siege on the Horsford goal, but good defending

kept out the marauding Caxton men and their proud unbeaten run came to an end.

With 10 games remaining, Caxton next play Norwich United and are still sitting pretty, albeit having played several more games than their promotion rivals.