Lowestoft: Hat trick hero Jake Reed shines for Trawlerboys

After establishing a comfortable three goal lead, Lowestoft seemed intent on throwing away the points in a sloppy second half performance.

Lowestoft hardly had a touch of the ball for the first eight minutes as Basildon pressed forward but they struck with deadly accuracy in the ninth minute.

The ball was cleared from defence and Jake Reed was too strong for German Petrov winning the ball from the defender and racing through from the halfway line to shoot past George Marsh.

Lowestoft’s pace and passing was cutting through the home defence at will with both Reed and Hipperson going close.

A second goal had to come and it duly arrived in the 19th minute.

The Lowestoft Town FC players celebrate. Picture: Shirley D Whitlow (Image: Shirley D Whitlow)

Sam Johnson was giving a masterclass as a wide wing back and he reached the byeline again before setting up Reed for his second goal, hitting the ball home from 10 yards.

Reed completed a 20 minute hat trick in the 27th minute with his pace taking him clear to slip the ball wide of Marsh.

Basildon were lucky to get to the break with only a three goal deficit.

After the interval Lowestoft never got going again and started to give the ball away far too easily.

Encouraged by this Basildon came more into the game but without really threatening.

They did eventually pull a goal back but again it was down to Lowestoft giving possession away 30 yards out for a simple pass forward to release Ben Allen to shoot past Burwood in the 71st minute.

Lowestoft gave away a second goal 10 minutes later when a lack of communication in defence saw Burwood’s attempted clearance smack into Travis Cole and leave Callum Fitzer to tap into an empty net.

Lowestoft looked decidedly panicky in the final 10 minutes defending desperately and it took a breathtaking save from Burwood to turn Shane Temple’s header over late on.