Following two successive cup defeats, Wokingham & Emmbrook returned to winning ways by defeating Milton United 3-2 in their Hellenic League game at Larges Lane on Saturday, writes Dave Wright.

Goals from Josh Harris, Ellis Day and Jake White saw Sumas secure their second Division One East win of the season, leaving them ninth in the table after seven games.

Manager Dan Bateman beamed: “Our form has been a bit up-and-down recently, so we are happy to have won.

“For 70 minutes we played really well, but then created a little bit of pressure for ourselves by giving away a silly penalty, but we dug in and held on. I thought we deserved all three points.”

Despite having several players unavailable, he was able to name a 16-man squad, which has not happened very often this season.

Having conceded four goals in each of their two cup defeats, Sean Woodward was named in goal for the first time this season.

“It was a big call to bring Woody back in, as Felix Davies has done really well, but I just felt we needed a bit more experience and Woody helped to get us over the line,” said Bateman.

There was also a full start for young Day and he showed his promise with a goal.

“Ellis was outstanding,” commented the manager. “He’s come on as a sub a couple of times and done really well and I thought he was excellent. I was really pleased to see him score.”

Day was involved in the move which led to Harris opening Wokingham’s account midway through the first half to cancel out Nat Robinson’s 11th-minute opener for Milton.

It needed an excellent save from Woodward to deny the visitors regaining the lead shortly before Sumas went ahead.

Sam Lawrence’s free-kick came back off the wall of defenders and he chipped the ball over the top for Day to head home.

And it was another free-kick in the 37th minute which led to the third goal, the referee spotting a handball in the wall and White making no mistake from the penalty spot.

Milton came out for the second half showing more intent and pushed their hosts onto the back foot. However, Sumas defended well and United were unable to create many decent chances, although they did shave the bar on one occasion.

But with 10 minutes left, Charlie Dean needlessly conceded a penalty and Robinson scored a second for United to bring them right back into the game.

Sumas came under pressure and shortly afterwards substitute Luca Headford was only inches away from grabbing the equaliser, but they held on to earn three deserved points.

Bateman believes his side are better than their league position suggests.

“I know most managers will say the same, but I think I will be proved right,” he added. “We have a really good squad and got some good young lads coming through which will give us more options.

“As the season progresses I think we will get a lot stronger and hopefully we will get a good run going.”

Sumas, who last night (Tuesday) were due to visit Abingdon Town in the Perpetua Press Floodlit Cup, host Premier Division side Reading City in the Bluefin Sports Hellenic League Cup on Saturday (3pm). Their Division One Subsidiary Cup home tie against Woodley United next Tuesday has been postponed.