EARLSWOOD Town suffered their first home defeat of the season as the Earls were beaten 3-0 by local rivals Knowle in their first game on the New Year.
Kartel O’Neill Martin struck twice in the second half after Nathan Corry had opened the scoring just before the half-hour mark at The Pavilions.
The result means Earlswood sit eighth in the Midland Football League Division Two table having won just one of their last eight matches.
And Knowle took the lead against the run of play on 28 minutes when Corry’s header crept in at the far post from Charlie Morris’s cross.
Earls goalkeeper Paul Evans kept his side in the game before the break as he denied both Jack Mullen and Morris on several occasions.
However, Knowle eventually doubled their lead on 68 minutes when O’Neill-Martin scored from the penalty spot after James Wright was adjudged to have upended Robins substitute Reece Staley
And O’Neil-Martin completed the scoring eight minutes later when he collected a loose ball on the left and cut inside before firing a blistering effort past Evans from 25-yards out.
Earlswood travel to Inkberrow on Saturday, January 7 with kick-off at 2pm at Sands Road.
