Kirkley and Pakefield picked up their first point of the season in the Thurlow Nunn League Premier Division on Tuesday evening when they came away from Trafford Park with a 1-1 draw.

They travelled to a Wroxham side who were thrashed 5-0 at Godmanchester on the opening day of the season while the Royals were losing 2-1 at home to Brantham.

With both teams looking to bounce back the game started in lively fashion, with the home side attacking from the kick-off.

In the third minute Wroxham's Harley Black hit a cracking 35 yard shot against the underside of the bar which came down on the line and was cleared away. On five minutes, from a Royals' corner, a good goalbound header by Lewis Hammond saw a defender head over and on 13 minutes a further Hammond header went wide.

In the 20th minute Wroxham centre back Skipper saw his header strike the bar and there was then a good move involving Kyle Haylock to Lee Will with a centre to Jordan Haverson whose shot across goal went just wide of the post.

Hammond did hit the post for the Royals on 27 minutes and in the next minute a good Liam Harvey-Cooper centre found Haylock for him to slot home the opening goal of the match.

More good work by Haylock to Will saw his shot go over from close range, with the Royals now piling on the pressure, and a good Haverson run to Harvey-Cooper saw his shot on the turn excellently saved by keeper Milligan before Harvey-Cooper had two further attempts well saved.

The Royals started the second half with a good long range effort from Hammond going just wide while away keeper Rix was called into action to make a good save after 62 minutes and Holt replaced Will for the Royals on 65 minutes.

With 15 minutes remaining Hammond was judged to have commited a foulin the area and former Norwich City player Simon Lappin stepped up to smash the penalty home to bring the scores level. As the rain started falling heavily, both teams tried to make assaults on goal without any joy, so both teams had to be content with a point in an absorbing match played on a testing surface.

Team: A Rix, M Wilson, M Wall, L Hammond, J Herbert (c), L Flower, K Haylock, M Lopez, L Will (M Holt 65), L Harvey-Cooper, J Haverson. Unused subs: G Soares, C Russell.

Kirkley & Pakefield 1 Brantham Athletic 2

A sun drenched Walmer Road saw the opening of the new Thurlow Nunn League Premier Division season last Saturday with Kirkley & Pakefield playing host Brantham Athletic.

It proved to be a disappointing start for the hosts, with Brantham netting an injury-time goal to come away with all three points.

The match started with both teams weighing each other up but it came to life on 12 minutes with a Brantham shot being brilliantly saved by home keeper Adam Rix on to the bar. Another effort was well saved before Rix finally collected a goal line clearance from one of his own players.

There were similar scenes at the other end on 18 minutes when the Brantham goal lived a charmed life, with efforts from Jordan Haverson, Lee Will and Kyle Haylock all being kept out by the keeper and defenders.

Shortly afterwards Will should probably have scored when through and clear on the keeper his shot was blocked and Jack Herbert then headed over from a good range.

On 36 minutes Brantham were awarded a free-kick 20 yards from goal on the right, with Hughes tapping the kick to George Clarke who neatly slotted past all defenders into the net for the lead.

On 44 minutes a good through ball to Liam Harvey-Cooper saw him place the ball past the away keeper to level the scores.

With the second half just two minutes old the same player had a good close range shot well saved by away keeper Luke Avenell. Home keeper Rix made to excellent saves on 70 minutes and 80 minutes but in the 91st minute was powerless to do anything to keep out a spectacular 25 yard strike from Clarke for his and Brantham's second of the match.

With time running out the Royals surged forward and captain Jack Herbert was bundled over in the area for what looked like a clear penalty. But nothing was given and this resulted in an incident between away defender Hughes and Herbert, with the Royals' captain shown a red card and Hughes only a yellow. These decisions soured what had been a good competitive first match of the season.

East Point Sports Man of the Match: Adam Rix.

Team: A Rix, M Wilson, M Wall, L Hammond, J Herbert (c), L Flower, K Haylock, M Lopez, L Will (C Russell 78), L Harvey-Cooper, J Haverson. Unused subs: M Holt, G Williams, G Soares, A Blowers.