A young Town reserve side comfortably beat Harwich and Parkeston in occasionally atrocious conditions in a friendly at the Shrimpers' Royal Oak ground.

Town took the lead in the seventh minute when Ian Westlake was quickest to react after Dean Bowditch's shot had been saved by the Harwich keeper.

On 23 the Blues scored again when Sam Morrow ran on to a long ball, took the ball past the keeper before slipping the ball past a host of defenders on the line from an acute angle.

Four minutes later Bowditch added the third, turning well inside the box and shooting across the keeper after a ball into feet from Stuart Boardley.

On the half hour Matt Bloomfield headed home the fourth after his initial effort from Bowditch's left wing cross had been saved.

The goals dried up for a while as the wind, snow and rain took their toll on a pitch which was little more than park standard by the end of the first half.

After the break Dean Bowditch should have added Town's fifth but saw his spotkick saved. The England youngster had been fouled as he broke into the Shrimpers' box.

Five minutes later the home side had a penalty of their own, Gareth Heath beating the otherwise impressive James Pullen from the spot.

Finally, after a plethora of substitutions, Matt Robinson scored the final goal of the night, chesting the ball down before firing in from ten yards with seven minutes left on the clock.

The Town youngsters had played some neat football in the first half despite the horrendous conditions but by the second period the pitch and the innumerable substitutions saw the game lose its cohesion.

Prior to the match Town boss Joe Royle had been involved in the opening of new dressing room facilities at Royal Oak.

Town: Pullen (Price 80), Okay, Boardley, Bloomfield (Atay 80), Mitchell, Bonwick, Abidallah (Murray 30), Westlake (Flack 80), Morrow (Robinson 50), Bowditch (Smith 70), Richards (Barron 60).

Photo: Action Images

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