Witham Town manager Garry Kimble admitted his team made things hard for themselves as they beat Maldon and Tiptree 3-2 at Spa Road in Ryman League division one north.

Town held a 3-0 lead going into the final ten minutes against a Maldon side that had been reduced to ten men just before half-time after Ben Bradbury was sent off for an alleged elbow on Seb Murfet.

Goals by Rob Whitnell, James Stevens and Danny Lopez had made it comfortable for the hosts, but the ten men of Maldon made things decidedly uncomfortable as the game reached its climax.

Former Witham striker James Robinson slotted home against his former club, but it should only have been a consolation goal.

Sam Taylor was unable to convert to make it 4-1 when through one-on-one with Maldon keeper Joe Wright and Witham very nearly paid for that missed opportunity.

Former Colchester United winger Kevin McLeod slammed home a free-kick to make it 3-2 just after and, as Maldon flooded forward, only a world-class interception by Town defender Paul King deep into injury-time denied the visitors a point that had looked unlikely for much of the preceding 90 minutes.

Witham boss Garry Kimble said: “It was nail-biting at the end but we got three points and that’s all that matters.

“What this tells me is that we can compete with the top teams.

“To be fair, the scoreline could have been more in our favour, especially when Sam (Taylor) went clear.

“I think a fourth goal and the game was dead and buried, but when they pulled one back it was a different case.

“We were hanging on in the last five minutes.

“They scored from the free-kick and in the dying few seconds, they broke again and Paul King’s was one of the best tackles I’ve ever seen.

“He put his body on the line and that was the match-winning tackle.

“But we should have put them out of sight.

“I didn’t think they offered anything really.

“The pitch didn’t help their style of play, but I felt we adapted to it better than they did."