Tangerines are knocked out of league cup following home loss

THURLOW NUNN LEAGUE

FIRST DIVISION

KNOCKOUT CUP

FIRST ROUND

Diss Town 0

Halstead Town 2

Diss Town’s Thurlow Nunn First Division Knockout Cup challenge is over following a disappointing 2-0 defeat to visiting Halstead Town.

An uneventful start to the game came to life in the 22nd minute when Ricky Spriggs’ glancing header deflected off of Diss defender Ben Lewis to beat home keeper Chris Bird just inside the far post to give the visitors the lead.

The match lacked fluency after that point as the game stopped on a number of occasions as fouls were committed by both sides and tempers threatened to boil over.

Jason Armes was booked in the 28th minute, and made way for substitute Kyle Downes in the 36th minute as the Tangerines sought to get more firepower on the pitch.

Jamie George looked to have an opportunity to equalise in the 37th minute as he went past a defender into the penalty area, but two defenders got the chance to combine and block his shot.

Five minutes before half-time the visitors took a 2-0 lead, when a cross from the left was met by Tom Holdstock, and although his header was blocked by Appleton the ball fell to Nico Farthing who poked the ball home from close range despite a desperate lunge by Downes.

Halstead came close to adding a third goal in the 50th minute, but Ben Lewis’ challenge was enough to reduce James Murray’s view of goal and Bird was able to turn the shot away for a corner.

For most of the half, the Tangerines struggled to make much impression going forward as they were unable to create any clear-cut chances.

The rest of the half was marred by a number of niggling fouls with neither side managing to create further openings as Halstead held on to their advantage to seal progression.

Diss will be aiming to respond in a league fixture away at Braintree Town Reserves tomorrow (3pm).