Brentwood Town fell short in a bottom of the table clash and remain in the relegation zone after a 4-0 away defeat to Needham Market.
Needham grabbed a three goal advantage in the first half, as Jay Davies opened the scoring from the spot, Connor Hogan deflected the second into his own net and a Callum Harrison volley gave Needham the advantage.
Oliver Mann then made Brentwood play for their defensive frailties with the fourth and extended the gap from Brentwood and the relegation zone to four points.
George Borg made three changes to his side that lost 1-0 at home to Bognor Regis Town last time out. Shad Ngandu misses out due to suspension, as Jamie Guy comes back into the side with Phillip Anderson and new signing Bradley Nobbs joins the Brentwood fold.
Brentwood almost grabbed an early goal six minutes in, as Mitch Hahn’s whipped in free-kick had to be tipped away by Daniel Gay.
Needham were awarded a penalty ten minutes in, as Andrew Freeman accidently clipped Luke Ingram giving the referee no option but to point to the spot. Davies stepped up to convert from Needham despite Martyn Guest diving the right way.
Brentwood nearly grabbed an equaliser, as Captain Martyn Stokes dinked a cross back into the box for Ryan O’Rawe which was headed goalwards but kept out by Gay.
The home side were pressuring the Brentwood defence and almost doubled their lead, as Callum Harrison’s long range shot 20 yards out went just over the crossbar.
Needham doubled their advantage, after a ball was not cleared by Brentwood and Ingram’s strike just inside the box was deflected in by Hogan.
The hosts grabbed a third a minute before the break, as Harrison teed the ball up for himself to volley the ball into the top corner – to give Brentwood a monumental task to get back into the game.
In the second half, Needham extended their lead six minutes in as Oliver Mann nodded in at the far post after a miss-timed clearance.
Brentwood now have an even bigger match at home next Saturday against Farnborough who are joint on points with ‘The Blues’.
Needham Market Lineup: 1 Daniel Gay, 2 Oliver Brown (73), 3 Darryl Coakley, 4 Oliver Fenn (78), 5 Keiran Morphew, 6 Joe Whight, 7 Luke Ingram, 8 Callum Harrison, 9 Oliver Mann, 10 Jay Davies, 11 Jordan Patrick
Substitutes: 12 Kemal Izzet (78), 14 Michael Brothers, 15 Sam Newson, 16 Ian Miller (73), GK Nathan Munson
Brentwood Town Lineup: 1 Martyn guest, 2 Ritchie Jones, 3 Andrew Freeman (75), 4 Martyn Stokes, 5 Ryan O’Rawe (84), 6 Phillip Anderson, 7 Connor Hogan, 8 Mitch Hahn, 9 Jamie Guy, 10 Liam Hope, 11 Bradley Nobbs (45)
Substitutes: 12 Ryan Boswell (84), 14 Nicky Symons, 15 Joshua Banton (75), 16 Dwade James (45), 17 Matt Belcher
Attendance: 248
