Litlington FC 1 Fulbourn Institute A 4 AFTER two successive victories, Litlington FC went into Saturday's game against promotion rivals Fulbourn Institute full of confidence. Litlington FC were virtually at full strength for the game with influential str

Litlington FC 1

Fulbourn Institute A 4

AFTER two successive victories, Litlington FC went into Saturday's game against promotion rivals Fulbourn Institute full of confidence.

Litlington FC were virtually at full strength for the game with influential striker Paul Harris back to boost the attack and Mark Briggs available to help patch up a defence that has been leaking goals at a rate simply not good enough for a team chasing promotion.

Litlington FC were also buoyed by the return from injury of Liam Butler who was available for the first time in over six weeks.

The smooth passing and movement of Fulbourn soon started creating chances and but for some last ditch tackling and fine goal keeping from Ben Bonfield, Litlington should have been a couple of goals down within the first 15 minutes.

Litlington FC, who pride themselves on playing passing football, could hardly string three passes together and were finally beaten when a good move was finished off by the Fulbourn striker with a near post shot that squirmed past Bonfield in the Litlington goal.

Just two minutes later Fulbourn should have added a second but a goal bound shot was deflected to safety off the back of another Fulbourn player.

Litlington finally woke from their slumber and started to pass the ball around and soon began creating chances of their own.

Paul Harris was denied on two occasions and a Briggs header sailed just over the bar as Litlington pushed for an equaliser.

The second half started with Litlington again pushing for an equaliser and they would have had it but for an unusual miss from Paul Harris who headed over from just six yards out.

However, Fulbourn stood firm and resisted the barrage of attacks. Totally against the run of play, Litlington were caught on the counter attack and punished as Fulbourn made it 2-0.

Things went from bad to worse for Litlington when, on 75 minutes a strong tackle forced player manager Ash Hawkins off the pitch with an ankle injury.

Fulbourn took complete control of the game and quickly scored twice more to take a commanding 4-0 lead.

Litlington pulled one back with 10 minutes remaining through Paul Harris but the game was already lost. Fulbourn were deserved winners on the day and but for a man of the match performance from keeper Bonfield would have won by a far bigger margin.

Manager Hawkins said: "We simply never got going . Yes, the weather didn't help but our passing was below par and we were simply never at the races. Hats off to Fulbourn though who were simply on a different level to us on the day.