Saffron Walden fell to a single-goal defeat at Brantham Athletic in their latest Thurlow Nunn League Premier League match.

With manager Stuart Wardley away, Jason Maher took charge of the Bloods but he was unable to lead them to victory.

It was a fairly even match decided by a clinical finish from Ben Newson, and the result leaves Saffron 10th in the table ahead of this Saturday’s home match against second in the table Felixstowe and Walton United.

Saffron had to deal with some crosses into their box as the home side looked for an early goal

Both sides tried to attack from the off with Richard Chadwick going close for Saffron only to blast his effort over the bar from the edge of the box.

At the other end Sam Soutar made an excellent save to deny an opening goal for Brantham as he got down low and blocked well.

Craig Calver then won a free-kick just outside the area but his curling strike was straight at goalkeeper Jack Spurling.

Soutar was then called upon to keep the scores level with another excellent save with his legs.

Brantham then had another chance at goal, but that old saying of head into the ground went awry as the striker did just that only to see the ball bounce up and over the crossbar as the first half ended goalless.

Just as in the first, in the second period there were early chances and it was Brantham who took theirs as they went 1-0 up in the 49th minute.

Newsom took advantage of a defensive error by the Bloods and smashed the ball passed Soutar from just eight yards out.

Five minutes later, Calver skilfully dribbled the ball into the Brantham area and tried to curl the ball past Spurling, but the goalkeeper made an excellent diving save.

Spurling was later tested again by Graeme Turner, but he successfully palmed the Saffron player’s venomous strike over the crossbar for a corner.

The resulting set piece was headed out to Fleming at the edge of the area, but his first-time strike failed to hit the target.

At the other end, Michael Brothers had an excellent chance to see the game off but his strike went begging just wide of the post.

With seconds remaining, Calver won a free-kick just outside the area but despite a decent delivery the home side cleared their lines and took all three points.