Halstead Town overcame a number of setbacks to stay in the Thurlow Nunn League division one promotion fight with a local derby win at Braintree Town Reserves.

Injuries and players not being available meant Halstead had to make five changes from the side that started their 2-2 draw with Saffron Walden Town the week before.

However, the youngsters who came in rose to the challenge with a 3-1 win.

Lee Green made his debut for the Humbugs and the 16-year-old marked his first appearance with a goal, with other strikes coming from Whitton United loanee Karl Andrade and Llewellyn Evans.

Halstead boss Mark Benterman said: “Having Lewis Cunliffe , Dave Morgan , Jonah Gosling and Ryan Swallow out and then for Jake Plane to pull out at the last minute meant five of the starters from last week were missing.

“So huge credit must go to the players who dug in deep and produced a win against a very talented group of Braintree players.

“Braintree’s movement and ball retention was outstanding and we knew that playing against players who train daily (at the Braintree Town Academy) was going to be hard.

“But we got the three points and congratulations must go to Josh Palmer and Lee Green for making their debuts.

“Lee scored a great header and showed great ability at only 16 years old.”