Fakenham Tn 4, Cornard Utd 0

FAKENHAM boss Wayne Anderson is refusing to get carried away, despite the Ghosts staying in the top three with a third successive league win on Saturday.

Anderson’s men endured a frustrating first half against the Thurlow Nunn League First Division’s bottom side, who are still searching for their first point of the season.

But after the break the Ghosts moved up a gear and leading scorer Ben Boyce broke the deadlock before further goals from Ryan Pearson, James Page and Toby Harris sealed a comfortable win.

Only Cambridge University Press and Newmarket stand above Fakenham in the table, but Anderson insists it is too early to talk about promotion: “I’ve set my sights on being in the top five,” he said.

“Some people are saying we ought to finish in the top four but I’m not looking at it that way.

“I’ve got my head screwed on and it’s still early days. If we get through to the end of February and we’re still in the top five then maybe we can finish there or even higher than that.”

Anderson admitted he was beginning to feel the frustration after a goalless first half on Saturday: “It was a bit like watching England against San Marino,” he said. “It was more like a training game than an actual league game and our keeper Lee Brooks only had one save to make in the whole 90 minutes, which tells the story.

“We played some good football without any end product and some players were trying too hard and not being patient enough. But we’ve gone out in the second half and got four goals and the three points, which is the most important thing.”

The Ghosts turn their attention to cup action this Saturday as they travel to Great Yarmouth in the third round of the Norfolk Senior Cup.

Fakenham will be without Lee Day, Sam Garner and James Tricks, who are all unavailable, but Anderson remains confident about his side’s chances of cup progress: “There are some good youngsters in Neil Jarvis’ Under-18s and they are top of their league,” he said. “They are going really well and there are two or three who can come in and do just as good a job as the senior players.”

The two sides drew 1-1 at Clipbush Park in the league earlier in the season and Anderson believes his side have improved since that clash in early August: “When we played them before we were 1-0 up, but we could have walked off with seven that day,” he said.

“The boys didn’t take on board what I was telling them and Yarmouth got an equaliser. But we’ve pushed on from that and I can see the players are listening and learning now. We’ve got no bad apples in the camp and we’re doing really well.”