The R’s Beaten At Staines

Tom Rothery and his team made the long trip to Staines Town last Tuesday evening for a Bostik Premier Division encounter that the play off chasing swans were keen to win.

The journey to south west London proved challenging for both the Regent team and the handful of fans that made the trip, with delays on the M25 kick off was pushed back to 8pm.

Despite the less than ideal preparation Brightlingsea started well and were the better team during the earlier exchanges forcing Staines onto the back foot and moving the ball smartly across the width of the Wheatsheaf Park pitch.

The early pressure paid off for the R’s when a free kick swung into the Staines box found the head of Josh Gould who powered the ball past keeper Conor Hudnott to make it 1-0 .

Louie Newland then had a chance to head the R’s further in front but couldn’t quite get enough power on his effort and could only watch as Hudnott palmed the ball away.

Brightlingsea continued to play well but Staines were beginning to grow into the half forcing the visitors to sit deeper and soak up more and more pressure.

Regent held on until just before half time when on 39 minutes Wadah Ahmidi levelled for the home team, slotting home confidently from the edge of the area. 1-1

The travelling R’s faithful would have predicted an early onslaught from the home side and this is exactly what they witnessed. Staines came out with the bit between their teeth and stepped up their game all over the park.

The early pressure certainly paid dividends when just ten minutes into the half Max Worsfold showed some nimble footwork to create a shooting opportunity in the Regent box. Leaving defenders in his wake he shot smartley across keeper James Bradbrook into the far corner of the net to make it 2-1.

From that point on Brightlingsea found themselves under constant pressure and struggled to clear their lines. When they did manage to get the ball up to striker Billy Hunt he found himself isolated and unable to do much more than close defenders down and drop deeper looking for the ball.

Staines were creating more and more chances, the ball flashing across the Regent box again and again with some last ditch defending and saves from Bradbrook keeping the scoreline at 2-1.

Brightlingsea did manage to create some half chances as the game drew to a close but nothing that really troubled the Staines keeper who dealt comfortably with a couple of George Keys strikes late on.

A difficult night all round for Tom Rothery and his team against a strong side challenging for a play off place.

The R’s will rue not being more clinical when they were on top early on in the game.

Gavin Aplin