With the return of Luke Catchpole to the Diss midfield, signed from Mildenhall Town, Robert Taylor's side found some renewed desire and dispatched the visitors with six of the best.

It was Downham who had the first real chance when Ben Coe's dipping 25-yard shot was brilliantly tipped over the bar by Ally McAnally.

Peter Hooks made a great run into the box at the other end, squaring the ball to an unmarked Sam Bryant, who had the goal at his mercy but managed to blast his shot high over the Downham bar.

The home side began to assert themselves and further efforts by Craig Skipp and Hooks were well saved by Max Snell between the Downham sticks, before Bryant and Stuart Garner went close in a sustained period of pressure, which would eventually pay off.

With 31 minutes on referee Martin Coxall's watch, a brilliantly anticipated run by Hooks paid dividends. Danny Wynne's flicked header ran into the path of Hooks who controlled the ball well, before putting keeper Snell on his backside, and stroked the ball home into an empty net for the lead.

The lead was to last just nine minutes as first front man John Connolly set up Pat Yates, who shot wide from 22 yards then Hooks again broke free at the other end only to be denied by the keeper.

A quick counter-attack saw Ben Coe shoot into an empty net from 20 yards for the equaliser, after Diss had failed to dispatch the ball out of defence.

Then Garner turned up the heat on a bitterly cold afternoon with a classy 30-yard strike, with his trusty left foot, which left keeper Snell rooted to the spot to give Diss a half-time lead, after some exquisite work by George Watts-Sturrock, Danny Wynne and right-back Rafel Szalek.

The second half was to produce a goal-scoring display by Diss, which destroyed any hopes Downham had of a revival, as Watts-Sturrock crossed brilliantly for Luke Catchpole to power home his majestic header in the 54th minute.

With 59 minutes gone, the Brewers Green faithful saw perhaps the best strike they have seen in many a year, as Stuart Garner smashed home a volley off the underside of the crossbar, to eclipse his earlier goal.

Man-of-the-match Hooks again broke free and his determined drive into the box saw an unselfish pass to Danny Wynne, who scored from eight yards.