HALSTEAD Town suffered their first league defeat of the season after losing 3-2 to Little Oakley, writes GEORGE CURLEY.

In a very tight match, the visitors came out on top at Milbank Stadium after twice going behind twice.

Halstead started well and went ahead in the 11th minute when Joe Jones found himself on the attack.

With options on both sides, he opted to go with the surging Brad Amos to his left.

Amos was fed the ball on the run, which meant he could dispatch his low-driven shot underneath Daniel Joyce to give Halstead the lead.

Little Oakley came out of the blocks a bit more after that in order to stamp their authority on the game which, after a few saved chances, they did.

After Nick Miller's free-kick was headed away, a scramble in the box resulted in Harry Mann unleashing a thunderous shot off into the roof of the net to equalise with a shot that was very hard for debutant Dean Grace to save.

But Halstead responded well and regained their lead when Chris Harris side-footed a shot into the net from a seemingly impossible angle, after Joyce had tipped Jordan Pavett's ferocious 35-yard shot onto the crossbar.

Harris nodded just wide following another Pavett shot, as Halstead went into at the break ahead.

It did not take long for Little Oakley to equalise after half-time, though when Greg Rodgers struck an equaliser.

Halstead then sat back after this, which meant the waves of Oakley attacks began, one of which resulting in a goal-line scramble which almost resulted in another goal.

And Halstead fell behind when Mann completed his brace to complete Oakley's comeback, after he fired high into the net.

In an attempt to thwart Oakley's surprising resurgence, Halstead then made a flurry of substitutions to salvage something from the game – including Mark Dallinger coming on in place of scorer Amos and Jamie Baker coming on for Nick Miller.

The Halstead advance then slowly crept up, with Pavett hitting the bar from a header.

After Chris Pavett's chest down, he failed to get his volley on target inside the box and subsequently blazed the ball over.

This proved to be the breaking point for Halstead, whose attacks slowed down after that resulting in Oakley sealing the points.