Regent lined up against Cray Wanderers with Suleyman Zuhdu back on the bench after a should injury alongside two of the under-23 squad. Grey clouds ran in from the sea giving a damp, gloomy feel to proceedings.

Cray ditched their usual amber and black for a changed kit of purple and were strengthened by loanees coming in from Leyton Orient and Gillingham in their search for a play-off place.

Regent kicked off and a very even first twenty minutes followed. Jermaine Anderson was playing in a more advanced role and presented most of the early threat with a through ball that nobody anticipated and then a run through the Cray midfield but nobody was on hand to get on the end of his cross.

Tempers frayed half way through the half in a bust up between Charlie Durling and Cray’s Yahaya Bamba which saw a punch being thrown but the referee decided to show both players a yellow card.

Immediately afterwards Anderson powered down the right hand side and held off a challenge with what appeared to be a fairly standard shoulder charge. Once again, he crossed the ball and this time someone was on hand to put it away but the officials flagged for a foul.
Shortly afterwards Anderson was booked for comments made to the referee.

The game settled back into an even contest with marginal chances for both sides none of which worried either goalkeeper.

Second half
Hard words were heard coming from the away dressing room at half time and a call went out to get the away substitutes running presumably in preparation for the second half.

It made little difference and the overall pattern of the game and ten minutes in Suleyman Zuhdu came on in place of Andy George
The game changed in the 62nd minute when Jermaine Anderson went in hard on Cray’s Sodje and was sent off after being shown a second yellow card.

Even then Cray found it hard to make to most of their advantage and came close to scoring when a header from a free kick went marginally wide of the top corner. But eventually, the pressure told from a corner when the ball was scrambled in from close range.

All that was necessary was for the visitors to play the game out but first Suleyman Zuhdu was brought down in the penalty area, only to see calls for a penalty waved away and then Cray’s goalkeeper slid on the wet turf and slid over the edge of the penalty area with the ball in hand and a red card followed.

Cray had used all their substitutes so there was a delay whilst an outfield player went in goal but their wall held firm in the face of Zuhdu’s free kick and Tevan Allen’s follow-up. The final chance came and went when Allen’s corner was headed over by Littlejohn.

Match Verdict
Regent supporters will look back on what appeared to be a perfectly good goal being ruled out for an unexceptional shoulder charge which would have changed the whole direction of the game. For most of the game there was little to choose between the two sides. Unfortunately as has been the case all through the season Regent have regularly ended up on the wrong end of close run matches like this one.

By Paul Ketchley