A dogged VCD Athletic side made Lowestoft work all the way before claiming the three points. With Andrew Fisk suspended Lowestoft brought in Dale Cockrill to the starting line up.

A dogged VCD Athletic side made Lowestoft work all the way before claiming the three points. With Andrew Fisk suspended Lowestoft brought in Dale Cockrill to the starting line up.

VCD came with a game plan to frustrate Lowestoft and their plan worked well in the first period. A packed defence saw successive shots from Scott Mitchell, Matt Nolan and Jamie Godbold all charged down.

Gary McGee seized on a mistake by Gary Cook but his shot from the edge of the area was turned over the bar in fine style by James Tedder.

As VCD grew in confidence a quick break from defence saw Nick Hegley reach the byline and cross for Meshach Nugent to send in a header that was blocked by Matthew Halliday.

A subdued first half ended with Gary Holt feeding Neil Plaskett whose cross to the far post saw Scott Mitchell stretch but direct his header too high.

VCD enjoyed a good opening ten minutes to the second half before the Blues regained control. Jamie Godbold pounced on a loose ball to surge through the middle only to be upended some 30 yards out by Jason Barton who received a yellow card.

Lowestoft got the breakthrough they were searching for in the 57th minute. Matt Nolan made ground in the penalty area but had his heels clipped by Jason Barton and he got up to drill home the penalty himself.

Before VCD could recover the Blues added a second goal just three minutes later. Jamie Godbold made ground down the right, cut into the penalty area and laid the ball back for Dale Cockrill to drill home from ten yards.

Lowestoft were well on top and Adam Smith saw a trademark free kick curl just wide. An excellent ball forward saw |Dale Cockrill race clear with just James Tedder to beat but the keeper managed to deflect the ball past the post.

A similar move saw substitute Craig Bussens also clear with a one-on-one with James Tedder but his final shot was just the wrong side of the post. As the game came to a close Jamie Godbold curled a superb effort towards the top corner which produced an equally impressive diving save from James Tedder.

t Lowestoft Town: Reynolds, Plaskett, Smith, Holt, Crane, Halliday, Godbold, Dale Cockrill, Nolan (Hilton, 80), McGee (Bussens, 75), Mitchell.

Subs (not used): Potter, Lovelock, Cutajar

t VCD Athletic: Tedder, Hunt, Barton, Maskell (Ward, 77), Cook, Hogg, Duckworth (Ibemere, 83), Penny, Huggins (T Bradshaw, 83), Nugent, Hegley.

Subs (not used): Asbury, J Bradshaw

t Attendance 712