Phil Banyard Ridgeons League: FA Vase finalists Lowestoft were unable to halt Soham's surge towards the Premier Division title, while Wisbech delivered another blow to Wroxham's hopes of catching the leaders.

Phil Banyard

FA Vase finalists Lowestoft were unable to halt Soham's surge towards the Premier Division title, while Wisbech delivered another blow to Wroxham's hopes of catching the leaders.

Lowestoft succumbed to a 3-1 home defeat against Soham, who maintained their seven-point lead over Needham Market, and the Yachtsmen could only manage a 1-1 draw at Wisbech to slip further behind in the title race.

Two first-half goals from Scott Carter set Soham on their way to victory and Scott Johnson added a third just after half-time. Neil Plaskett pulled one back for the Blues, but they were unable to recover from an abject first-half display.

Wroxham went ahead at Fenland Park when Ben Thompson lobbed the Wisbech keeper on 32 minutes. But Thompson turned villain on 55 minutes as he conceded a penalty for shirt-pulling and Stu Ablett converted from the spot.

To add to Wroxham's woes, they lost right-back Danny Self with a suspected broken ankle after he fell awkwardly.

They now stand three points behind Needham Market, who passed the 100-goal mark with a 4-1 victory at Mildenhall.

Dereham's hopes of picking up a fourth consecutive victory were undone by Histon Reserves, who moved off the bottom with a 1-0 win at the Glassworld Stadium.

The home side netted the winner on 49 minutes when Rob Devoy held off three weak challenges to score.

Rory French scored twice to set up Norwich United's 3-0 win over CRC at Plantation Park.

French broke the deadlock two minutes before the break when he latched on to Adam Smith's pass to lob the keeper.

The Planters had to wait until the 89th minute to double their lead, as a slick passing move culminated in a calm finish from Nathan Page. French wrapped up the win in the third minute of injury-time after being set up by Shaun Bammant.

Former Kirkley & Pakefield striker Justin Chenery was instrumental in his old club's downfall at Leiston.

Chenery delivered a perfect cross for Marc Lowe to head the only goal of the game on the 30-minute mark.

In Division One, Fakenham moved out of the bottom two after picking up their fourth win in the last six games, beating Stowmarket 3-2.

The Ghosts' scorers were Ben Darby, Julian Delicata and Kevin Whittred.

They moved above Cornard, who were thrashed 5-0 at Great Yarmouth.

Stuart Roach fired a hat-trick for the Bloaters and Nicky Crawley scored twice.

Fellow strugglers Long Melford enjoyed a shock 4-1 win at Diss, who scored through Ben Deacon.

Gorleston were beaten 3-0 by Saffron Walden and Thetford crashed to a 4-0 defeat at home to Tiptree, a result which saw the Essex side crowned champions.

n Kirkley and Pakefield winger Chris Henderson was on top form for the Suffolk U18 side in their East Anglian Counties Championship match against Bedfordshire at Bury.

Suffolk pulled back a 3-1 deficit to draw 4-4 and gain the point to win the championship this season.

Henderson scored two of the four goals and made one for the Suffolk side which also included Kirkley's Scott Manning and Lowestoft's Dale Smith.