Dunmow Rhodes made a good start to the new year by hitting Witham Nomads for six in their Braintree & North Essex League meeting.

Rhodes put pressure on the home defence early on, with Jake Sutton going close to opening the scoring with a decent strike.

The visitors took the lead midway through the first half when captain Christian Roles saw his shot take a deflection off a defender to find the net.

Sam Hockley’s fine shot was well saved by Adam O’neill, but George Hamill’s free-kick picked out Roles to double the Dunmow advantage.

And it was 3-0 at the break when Sutton’s pass found Kennie Irving in space to score a good goal.

Luke Johnson produced some decent saves to deny Witham a reply after the restart, before Hockley’s excellent pass found Sutton to net number four.

Set-piece specialist Hamill then picked out Roles from a corner to claim his second goal of the game and JP Alexander’s long-range free kick made it 6-0.

Nomads were awarded a late penalty, which Sam Greenhalgh converted for some consolation, but it was Dunmow’s day, as Irving took the man of the match award.

*Thaxted Rangers returned to action after a month-long break to beat Balsham 6-0 in their Cambs League Division One encounter.

A first-half brace from Charlie Daniels – the second a stunning effort from the edge of the box – put Thaxted on top at the break.

And a Keiren Lock header soon after the restart ended the match as a contest, with Martyn Doble making it 4-0 on the hour.

Two late strikes, from first-team debutant Tom Samson and Daniels, to complete his hat-trick, rounded off an excellent display by Thaxted, with 16-year-old Ky Richardson giving another impressive performance in midfield.