It’s the last week in September and the nights are drawing down. There’s an end of summer feeling in a lazy seaside town. Sun worshippers can still find warmth on the far side of the ground but there’s an autumnal chill in the shade.

Regent featured new signing Adalberto Pinto in the number 4 shirt as Charlie Durling dropped into the back four. Harrison Carnegie returned to the starting eleven with Ollie Bell, Dom Locke and Ollie Sotoyinbo available on the bench.

Haringey kicked off and were backed by a small but noisy support who got ten out of ten for nonstop singing and originality to fill the entire 90 minutes.

The visitors might not have the stars of old but are a quick, well organised and high tempo outfit who always present a challenge. They dominated midfield and won a series of early corners but were nearly undone when Carnegie got away down the left, beat the defence and cut the ball back for Connor Barnby to steer the ball into the net. Speculation as to why the goal was disallowed will continue for some time.

From there on it was all very even. Haringey were foiled by Charlie Turner at his best half way through the half and failed to make the most of the openings they made by some poor finishing. Regent were unfortunate not to get something from a fierce shot by Carnegie and Zak Littlejohn nearly made a breakthrough from a corner.

As half time approached Sam Jeremiah played in a sublime delivery but Luke Woodward was unable to convert. So, the sides turned round at nil-nil with all to play for.

Second half
No changes were made at half time.
The second half followed the pattern of the first. Early on Haringey took a quick free kick and saw a shot hit the post and at the other end Regent were once again caught off side. Everything was even – it was even 2-2 in bookings when Sotoyinbo came on for Barnby on the hour mark.

Almost immediately the deadlock was broken when Regent won a corner on the left. Good delivery combined with a great glancing header by Zak Littlejohn meant that Regent continued their habit of scoring first in nine out of their ten games this year. They nearly doubled the lead when Sotoyinbo seemed to have scored from Carnegie’s delivery but again it was ruled out for offside.

The game deteriorated into a scrappy phase. Ricky Stubbs was booked, presumably for expressing a view about some of the decision making. Then Regent survived a scare when Sotoyinbo and Jermaine Anderson were both down on the ground. Sotoyinbo was unable to continue and he was replaced by Dom Locke after 77 minutes.

Two minutes later Haringey got an equaliser when a cross from the left was put away with aplomb by the Haringey centre forward who stopped to head the ball into the top left of the goal.

Encouraged, Haringey pressed forward for the final ten minutes but the biggest scare came when Charlie Turner slipped when trying to clear a loose ball. Several minutes of anticipated added time did not come to pass and the referee brought the game to a prompt end with honours even.

Match Verdict
Either side could have won this game with a bit more composure on the Haringey side or some different decisions affecting Regent. So a draw is a fair result. Regent will hope that some of their injured players will be back in contention for next week’s Cup Tie at Needham Market. Sotoyindo, unfortunately, looks doubtful.

By Paul Ketchley