THE Colts, playing their first game after the Christmas break, showed no signs of lethargy and they soon had their trade mark passing game flowing.

Colts soon won a corner which was met with a fine header by Will Gillis narrowly missing the target.

Fine link up play in midfield By Bobby Foster, Dan Brewer and Liam Norton ended with the latter unlucky not to score with a brilliant volley.

The opponents were finding it difficult to break down the Colts defence marshalled by the impressive Cam Young.

The Colts continued to pound the defensive minded Messingham and a moment of magic from Mitch Fulwood almost broke the deadlock with a magnificent shot from near the half way line which the keeper just managed to keep out.

Fulwood then fired in a free kick minutes later which went narrowly wide.

The Colts defence were called into action by a rare Messingham breakaway but the Colts solid back line coped easily with Frazer Horsefield making some excellent tackles.

Midfielder Jordan Jenkinson entered the fray and made an immediate impact with a lovely through ball to Gillis who was unlucky not to score.

Keeper George Moore was a virtual spectator until just before half time when a Messingham forward broke through but he was closed down quickly by Moore who made a magnificent save that brought the first half to a close.

The second half started as the first left off with some fine passing and movement from the Colts.

Young and Jenkinson linked up with some fine passing to release Norton who fired in a ferocious right foot shot that went narrowly wide, and an excellent run from Horsefield was only halted by the massed ranks of the Messingham rear guard.

Josh Richardson pushed up into midfield where his (they shall not pass) attitude worked well even though he was carrying a slight injury.

The Messingham forwards made a rare foray towards the Colts goal firing in a succession of shots which keeper Moore coped with admirably especially a fantastic double save.

As the game entered the closing stages the Colts were awarded a penalty after a fantastic mazy run by Foster ended with him being upended in the area.

Foster himself took the resulting penalty only to find the opposing keeper make a fine save.

The Colts could not break down the opposition defence, even with the superb Brewer spraying excellent passes to the forwards and a rock in defence.

Man of the match was Dan Brewer.