Regent Undone By AFC Sudbury

Brightlingsea Regent hosted AFC Sudbury at the Taydal Stadium on Friday night in what was their 3rd Friendly in 5 days. Boss James Webster introduced a strong side at kick off making 5 changes from Wednesday's 1-0 Victory over Brantham.

AFC Sudbury got off to a dream start, scoring after just two minutes. Jake Turner returning to Regent a lot sooner then we had hoped for, as he smashed his new team into the lead. The ball bounced out to edge of the box as the R's only half cleared a Sudbury corner, and Turner hit his low strike sweetly into the bottom corner. 0-1

Things went from bad to worse for the R's as a risky back pass to Regent's Trialist Goalkeeper forced him into a block challenge with L'heureux Menga breathing down on goal. This caused our young keeper an injury and the stretcher was called for. The initial save was a good one I will add.

Regent did get an equaliser, after 29 minutes when Tom Richardson made his way into the box, he was then impeded by the AFC Sudbury defender Julian Smith. Aaron Condon stepped up and made no mistake! 1-1

Regent came out to the second half with a more about them in attack, and they were rewarded with the lead after 54 minutes. A deep Ricky Griggs corner was nodded back across goal by Tom Richardson finding the unmarked Phil Kelly at the back post to nod home from close range to give the R's the lead. 2-1

Regent's lead was quickly cancelled out just 5 minutes later, when the visitors were awarded a penalty. Jake Turner got to the ball ahead of Matt Cripps just inside the box and the Ref pointed to the spot for the second time in the match, L'heureux Menga Stepped up and slotted past the young stand in Goalkeeper Harry Palmer. 2-2

AFC Sudbury restored the lead in the 71st minute, when a deep cross was headed across the face of the Regent goal, Jake Gould was unable to divert the ball wide and instead directed his header into the corner of his own net. 2-3

The Yellows sealed victory in the 75th minute when Regents 3rd Goalkeeper Aaron Reedman placed the ball out carelessly to the R's defender George Doyle, he was then caught in possession and Sam Clarke ran on to blast into the net. FT 2-4

A disappointing result for Regent against Suffolk rivals AFC Sudbury but plenty of weeks to put right the wrongs, next Tuesday the R's Travel to Brentwood Town.

Having spoken to the young Goalkeeper on Social Media on Saturday afternoon, he is having an X-Ray on Monday to see if there is any ligament or fractures in his ankle. We wish him all the best and we hope to see him get another chance in a Regent shirt very soon.